Cornell Law Prof. To Face Charges in Zambia

Professor Muna Ndulo has taught at Cornell Law School since 1996, but he may be returning to his country of birth, Zambia, to face charges.

Zambia's leading independent newspaper, The Post, and United States' University
of Cornell Professor of Law, Muna Ndulo, have been cited for contempt of court
over an article the professor wrote on the ongoing trial of The Post news
editor, Chansa Kabwela.

The original article, which ran on August 27, can be found here. Ndulo defends the editor of The Post, who faces charges of obscenity for printing two photographs of a woman giving birth outside of a hospital while its workers were on strike. Ndulo also criticizes the Zambian criminal justice system for going forward with the case.

The chief resident magistrate of Lusaka did not appreciate the article:

Magistrate Kafunda said having read Prof Ndulo's article, he was satisfied that
the article had contemptuous matter in it. He cited The Post Editor-in-Chief
Fred Mmembe and the author of the article, Prof Ndulo.

Yesterday, Ndulo informed the BBC that he was willing to return to Zambia to face charges:

United States-based University of Cornell Professor of Law Muna Ndulo has said
he is ready to travel and appear before chief resident magistrate Charles
Kafunda in a matter of contempt over the article he recently wrote on the
ongoing trial of Post news editor Chansa Kabwela.

It will be interesting to see if Ndulo does return to Zambia. The Zambian government might decide to drop the charges instead of taking the chance that the issue will become an international one. The Zambian government's campaign against journalists has not gotten much attention internationally, but Ndulo's return would result in a significant amount of bad publicity for Zambia. I'm sure Cornell would take a strong stance on the issue if Ndulo were to return. It appears that Ndulo is not teaching any courses this fall, so Cornell students would not be impacted academically.

Edit: The Sun has an article in Wednesday's paper.