The editor-in-chief of the Malawian daily, The Dispatch, Martines Namingha, printer, Kaleraa Mhango, and four newspaper vendors were over the weekend detained for publishing "false information".

In a protest letter addressed to the Minister of Home Affairs, Monjeza Maluza, the Paris-based Reporters sans frontières (RSF - Reporters Without Borders) has asked the minister to order the competent authorities to release them. Robert Ménard, General Secretary of the press freedom organisation, reminded him that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Abid Hussein, recommended in a document published in January 2000: "In the case of offences such as 'libeling', 'insulting' or defaming' the head of State and publishing or broadcasting 'false' or 'alarmist' information, prison terms are both reprehensible and out of proportion to the harm suffered by the victim".

According to information collected by RSF, on 25 May 2001, Martines Namingha was arrested for having published an article headed "What will happen if Muluzi dies today?" and in which he addressed the question of the succession of the current president. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), the printer, Kalera Mhango, has been arrested for facilitating the publication. Four sellers have also been arrested.

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