Civil society coalition alleges torture including waterboarding, calls Zambia's post-election conduct a constitutional crisis

Five Zambian civil society organisations have issued a joint statement describing government's conduct since the 13 August general election as a constitutional crisis, disclosing detailed allegations that detainees connected to the post-election treason case, including businessman Harry Valden Findlay, have alleged torture, including waterboarding, in a petition filed under oath before the Lusaka High Court.

The statement, issued 14 September and signed by Linda Kasonde, Executive Director of the LCK Freedom Foundation, on behalf of the Advocates for Democratic Governance Foundation, Caritas Zambia, Chapter One Foundation and Free Press Initiative Zambia, was released a day ahead of the United Nations International Day of Democracy, marked annually on 15 September. The coalition called it "a bitter irony" that Zambia approaches this year's observance "not celebrating the strength of its democratic institutions but confronting an unprecedented assault on them."

THE PASSPORT CANCELLATIONS

The coalition said that on 7 September, Government Gazette Notice No. 1421 of 2026 cancelled, with immediate effect, the passports of six Zambian citizens, former Ambassador to Ethiopia Emmanuel Mwamba, historian and academic Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa, former Members of Parliament Binwell Mpundu and Emmanuel Jay Banda, former Special Assistant to the President Kaizer Zulu, and social media commentator Lillian Mutambo.

The coalition said the gazette cited only "security reasons" and "the interest of national security," with no further grounds, no charge, and no opportunity for any of the six to be heard before the decision was taken.

The statement said this followed the earlier cancellation of the passport and National Registration Card belonging to Celestine Mukandila, Secretary-General of the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance, a case MUVI TV has reported on separately, also without due process and on similarly opaque grounds.

The coalition said Mukandila remains in the custody of the Department of Immigration over a disputed status probe, and that the Lusaka High Court has since ordered the state to produce him and show cause why he should not be released.

The coalition argued the right to a passport cannot be withdrawn at the discretion of the Executive, citing Article 22 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement including the right to leave and enter Zambia and to be issued a passport, Article 26, which requires any restriction to be authorised by law with reasons given and a right to review, and Article 18, which guarantees the right to be heard before an adverse decision is made.

"None of that has happened here," the statement said. "We are deeply concerned that citizenship documents are being weaponised to silence critics, dissidents, and perceived political opponents of the ruling party."

THE TREASON AND SEDITION CASE

The coalition laid out a detailed timeline for NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile and running mate Makebi Zulu, who it said have been detained since 27 August 2026, when they voluntarily presented themselves to police following the 14 August security operation at a property linked to Mundubile, during which a former Cabinet minister was fatally shot, a reference to Mutotwe Kafwaya.

On 29 August, the coalition said, the two men were jointly charged with treason under section 43 of the Penal Code alongside sixteen other co-accused, and transferred the following day to Mukobeko Maximum Correctional Facility in Kabwe. On 11 September, while still awaiting their first court appearance on the treason charge, the coalition said they were further arrested and jointly charged with seditious practices under section 57 of the Penal Code. As of the date of the statement, neither man had been brought before a court to answer either charge.

The coalition cited Article 13(3) of the Constitution, which requires a person arrested or detained to be brought before a court as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case within 48 hours of arrest, and Article 18, which guarantees the right to be presumed innocent, informed promptly of the charge, and given a fair hearing before an independent and impartial court. "Charging a person and holding that charge over them without arraignment is itself a form of coercion and undermines these constitutional guarantees," the statement said.

DETAILED TORTURE ALLEGATIONS INVOLVING 18 DETAINEES

The coalition said it was gravely concerned about the human rights situation of 18 people detained in connection with these matters, including Mundubile, Zulu, Mukandila and their co-accused. According to a petition filed with the Attorney-General, Mulilo Kabesha SC, Harrington Akushanga, and Zambia Correctional Service Commissioner-General Fredrick Chilukutu, the coalition said the 18 detainees, among them George Chisanga, retired Anglican Bishop Trevor Mwamba, Harry Valden Findlay, and 15 others, allege unlawful detention, denial of access to legal counsel and family members, and in some cases inhuman and degrading treatment. The petition further alleges some detainees were held for extended periods without being informed of the charges against them, and were transferred between police stations and correctional facilities without valid remand warrants or other lawful process.

Findlay, the coalition said, is alleged to have been taken from his residence in Chisamba on 4 August 2026, and held, without access to family, legal representatives, or his prescribed medication, first at Ibex Hill Police Station and later at the incomplete section of Mwembeshi Correctional Facility.

Three other petitioners, the coalition said, are alleged to have been detained for more than nine days after being picked up at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, and subjected during that time to torture and inhuman treatment, including alleged waterboarding and beatings. "We treat these as extremely serious allegations, made under oath in a petition now before the Lusaka High Court, which demand independent, transparent and urgent investigation," the coalition said, noting that weeks after arrest, several of the accused have yet to be brought before a court to answer the charges against them.

THE ARREST OF MP FAITH MUNTHALI

The coalition said it was alarmed by reports that Faith Munthali, Member of Parliament for Mafinga South, was apprehended on 11 September by uniformed men in a manner it said did not accord with basic due process, without the opportunity to have her lawyers present. It noted the arrest followed earlier public warnings, including from her own party, of a plot to apprehend her.

The coalition said Munthali is entitled to the protections of Article 13, personal liberty including prompt production before a court, and Article 18, protection of the law including access to legal representation of her choice, and called on the Zambia Police Service to immediately and transparently confirm her whereabouts and legal status, ensure unimpeded access to her lawyers and family, and treat any allegation against her strictly according to law.

The coalition said Munthali's case echoes the allegations involving the three Mundubile petitioners held at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, describing a pattern of people picked up and held at unknown locations for extended periods before being brought to a formal detention facility, which it said was consistent with enforced disappearance, recognised under international law as a grave human rights violation distinct from, and additional to, any subsequent lawful detention. "We are alarmed that abduction-style tactics appear to be emerging as a recurring feature of the State's response to political opposition and dissent," the statement said.

A PATTERN, NOT ISOLATED INCIDENTS

The coalition said that taken individually, each development was troubling, but taken together they revealed a pattern, the use of state power against political opponents, critics and dissenting voices, without regard to due process, judicial oversight or the constitutional protections that exist precisely to restrain such power.

"When passports can be cancelled by gazette notice, when charges can be laid and left hanging indefinitely, and when a sitting Member of Parliament can be taken into custody without due process, no citizen, however prominent or however ordinary, can consider themselves safe from arbitrary state action," the statement said.

It cited Article 1 of the Constitution, which declares the Constitution the supreme law of the Republic binding on all persons and state institutions, and Article 2, which imposes on every citizen a duty to defend the Constitution, saying it was on that constitutional footing, "not mere sentiment," that its call to action was grounded.

THE COALITION'S DEMANDS

The coalition's call to action was directed at three audiences. To citizens, it called on Zambians to discharge their Article 2 duty to defend the Constitution by rejecting what it called this descent into lawlessness, peacefully and strictly within the bounds of the Constitution and the law, saying democracy is defended "through lawful assembly, lawful speech, the courts, and civic vigilance, not through violence or disorder," while urging citizens not to be intimidated into silence, nor provoked into unlawful conduct that would hand the state a pretext for further repression.

To government, the coalition called for an immediate end to all actions taken in defiance of Articles 1, 13, 18, 22 and 26 of the Constitution, the restoration of the cancelled passports pending a fair process, bringing Mundubile, Zulu, Mukandila and their co-accused before a court without further delay or withdrawing the charges, guaranteeing all detainees unimpeded and confidential access to legal counsel, family and prescribed medication, independently and transparently investigating all allegations of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ceasing any practice amounting to enforced disappearance or abduction, restoring consistent observance of the rule of law, renewing a visible commitment to the safety of all citizens particularly those in political life, taking concrete steps to restore public confidence in the Electoral Commission, the Judiciary, the Defence Force, law enforcement and Security Wings, and convening an inclusive national dialogue bringing together government, opposition, civil society and faith communities.

To the international community, the coalition said Zambia's constitutional order is being tested, and that silence and inaction "will be read, correctly, as acquiescence," urging the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Commonwealth, SADC and United Nations human rights mechanisms to monitor developments closely and engage the Zambian government directly.

"Zambia's hard-won democracy was not built to be dismantled by gazette notice and midnight arrests," the coalition said in closing, calling for an urgent de-escalation of the prevailing situation through careful reflection and dialogue.