NEWS |JUSTICE | BAIL | By Watipaso Mzungu

Firebrand human rights activist Sylvester Namiwa will remain in jail after High Court Judge Mzondi Mvula reserved ruling on his bail application on Thursday.

The court had initially scheduled the bail hearing for Wednesday, 12 August, but postponed it to Thursday without giving a reason.

Namiwa, executive director of the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), is being held at Lilongwe Maximum Prison on charges of treason and publishing false news likely to cause public alarm.

The court heard the bail application and the State’s response in chambers. Namiwa was not present because the matter was heard in chambers.

Namiwa’s lawyer, Gift Mwenye, asked the court to grant bail, noting that the State was not opposing the application.

Mwenye said the State had proposed several conditions, including a K2 million bail bond, two sureties bonded at K3 million each in non-cash amounts, surrender of travel documents, reporting to police every fortnight on a Friday, and a restriction on granting interviews similar to those that allegedly led to his arrest.

Mwenye said Namiwa had no objection to the conditions, except for the K2 million bond, which he argued was excessive.

“Namiwa is a person on la ow income. In all his human rights work he doesn’t have an income and he does that voluntarily,” Mwenye told the court, asking the judge to reduce the amount.

Another defence lawyer, Innocent Ziba, also argued that the K2 million bond was excessive and asked the court to reduce it to K500,000.

“Bail conditions given to the accused should not be unreasonable,” Ziba submitted.

State lawyer Tapiwa Msimuko confirmed that the State was not opposing bail, saying investigations into the matter had been concluded.

However, Msimuko asked the court to retain the proposed conditions if it decided to release Namiwa.

“It’s our prayer that the court considers the conditions as they are and also exercises its discretion,” she said.

In his remarks, Judge Mvula emphasised that bail was a matter within the court’s discretion.

He said he had not had sufficient time to consider the submissions from both sides and needed more time before making a decision.

The judge said the parties would be notified once the ruling was ready and adjourned the matter to a later date.