{"id":21997,"date":"2022-05-03T18:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T18:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera"},"modified":"2022-05-03T19:58:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T19:58:35","slug":"organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera","title":{"rendered":"Organizations concerned over crackdown on freedom of expression under Chakwera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>Several human rights organisations have expressed concern over rising police surveillance and interception of private conversations by the police under the Lazarus Chakwera administration, saying the crackdown smacks of emerging authoritarianism and institutionalism of state intimidation.<\/p>\n

Media body Misa Malawi, Youth and Society (YAS), Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), Paradigm Initiative, and Centre for Human Rights, Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) issued their statement last night.<\/p>\n

According to the organisations, since Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance came in power in 2020, arrests of citizens over online activities have intensified.<\/p>\n

Those arrested over social media posts include social media activist Joshua Chisa Mbele, 20-year-old Chisomo Makala who allegedly shared a video clip insulting Chakwera and activist Bon Kalindo for allegedly insulting Chakwera.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Ntcheu based nurse Chidawawa Mainje was arrested for insulting Chakwera and was charged under the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act of 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese acts have a chilling effects on citizens, journalists and activists who use social media platforms such as WhatsApp and the acts violate section 21 on the right to privacy, section 34 on freedom of opinion, section 35 on freedom of expression and section 36 on press freedom under the Constitution of Malawi.<\/p>\n

\u201cCritically, this growing crackdown smacks of incipient authoritarianism and institutionalism of state intimidation through application of archaic and draconian laws,\u201d read part of the statement.<\/p>\n

The organisations have since reminded the Chakwera administration that Malawi is a democratic country and freedom of speech applies to ideas of all kinds including those that may be deeply offensive to authorities.<\/p>\n

They have demanded authorities to repeal all laws which suppress freedom of expression online and offline including the Electronic Transaction and Cyber Security Act as well as Protected Flags, Emblems and Names Act which are used to restrict freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe further urge Tonse Administration to drop all criminal charges related to freedom of expression online and offline and restore the government\u2019s human rights obligations according to the Constitution and international law,\u201d reads part of the statement.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. Several human rights organisations have expressed concern over rising police surveillance and interception of private conversations by the police under the Lazarus Chakwera administration, saying the crackdown smacks of emerging authoritarianism and institutionalism of state intimidation. Media body Misa Malawi, Youth and Society (YAS), Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Southern African […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":21996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[233,371,668,306,234,4483,277],"class_list":["post-21997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-human-rights","tag-lazarus-chakwera","tag-malawi","tag-misa-malawi","tag-youth-and-society-yas"],"yoast_head":"\nOrganizations concerned over crackdown on freedom of expression under Chakwera - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Several human rights organisations have expressed concern over rising police surveillance and interception of private co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Organizations concerned over crackdown on freedom of expression under Chakwera\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several human rights organisations have expressed concern over rising police surveillance and interception of private co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-03T18:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-03T19:58:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/05\/img-6271894baf1f7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"451\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Organizations concerned over crackdown on freedom of expression under Chakwera\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-03T18:53:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-03T19:58:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera\"},\"wordCount\":358,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/05\/img-6271894baf1f7.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"human rights\",\"Lazarus Chakwera\",\"Malawi\",\"Misa Malawi\",\"Youth and Society (YAS)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/organizations-concerned-over-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression-under-chakwera\",\"name\":\"Organizations concerned over crackdown on freedom of expression under Chakwera - 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