By: (AP) Police charged four journalists with defaming Zambia's president in an article claiming he had Parkinson's disease, police said Thursday.
Emmanuel Chilekwa, editor of the independent
People newspaper, and three of his reporters were arrested Wednesday night for the story published last month that said President Levy Mwanawasa had the disease, police spokesman Lemmy Kajoba said.
The four, including a journalism student, were charged with defamation, and police were searching for a fifth reporter from the newspaper, Kajoba said. It was not immediately clear what sentences they could face.
Mwanawasa had denied having the disease and recently asked authorities to look into bringing charges against the journalists who allegedly defamed him.
Meanwhile, scores of suspected ruling party supporters beat up newspaper vendors and confiscated copies of the independent
Post, which has been critical of the government.
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disease which affects movement or the control of movement, including speech.
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