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Amnesty International Report 2004 - Malawi

Covering events from January - December 2003

Politically motivated violence escalated in the run-up to the 2004 elections and there were reports of excessive use of force by police. Torture in police custody continued to be reported. Journalists perceived to be critical of the government were assaulted, threatened and arrested.

Background

On 31 March President Bakili Muluzi announced that he would not run for a third term. By the end of the year the bill seeking to amend the Constitution to enable him to run for a third term had not been withdrawn.

In September the World Food Programme stated that Malawi had mostly recovered from the serious food shortages that had put approximately 3.3 million Malawians at risk of hunger and starvation in 2002.

Policing

Police used excessive force in an attempt to quell demonstrations against a third term for the President and to break up opposition rallies. On 27 January, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at anti-third term protesters during demonstrations organized by civic organizations. Torture of suspects and deaths in police custody continued to be reported.

• Peter Mussa Gama died in custody on 12 September. He was detained by police in Blantyre for questioning about a suspected case of armed robbery. An autopsy revealed that he had died of asphyxia and that he may have been assaulted.

Freedom of expression

There was an overall decline in freedom of expression. State-sponsored attacks on independent media workers and media outlets perceived to be critical of the government intensified. In October, the Director of Public Prosecutions wrote a letter to the Regional Police Commissioner for the south and other senior police officers calling on the police to end arbitrary arrests of journalists and warning that such acts were unconstitutional.

• On 8 July Daniel Nyirenda, a photojournalist with The Nation newspaper, was severely beaten by suspected members of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) youth wing in Blantyre in front of senior members of the UDF and police officers. In September a reporter with the Daily Times newspaper, Frank Namangale, was arrested on charges of "publishing false information likely to cause fear and alarm to the public". The Director of Public Prosecutions later ordered that the charges be dropped.

Arrests of al-Qa'ida suspects

On 22 June, five men suspected of being members of al-Qa'ida were arrested by agents of the Malawi National Intelligence Bureau and agents from the USA reported to be members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The men were held at a secret location without access to lawyers and then flown out of Malawi to an undisclosed location in US custody for interrogation. At the end of July it was reported that the five had been taken to Zimbabwe, held there for a month and then sent to Sudan where they were released after no evidence was found linking them to al-Qa'ida. In Kasungu district, police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition at people demonstrating against the deportation of the five men.