Amnesty International believed that such a Media Council was an attempt to institute government control over journalists' freedom of expression and opposed the bill. After mass protests by media workers, the bill was temporarily withdrawn, but a high-ranking government minister has claimed that it will be reintroduced later this year. Special Projects Editor of The Post , Masautso Phiri, served two months of a three-month sentence in February and March 1997 after the Supreme Court of Zambia found him guilty of contempt of court for writing a December 1996 article alleging that the Supreme Court was offered a bribe by President Chiluba. Amnesty International declared Masautso Phiri to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for the non-violent expression of his political beliefs. The government reaction was swift.
Legal experts say the law, until then, had never been used.
The charges are still pending and, despite a court order, the government has never returned the property police seized from the organizations. At a December 1996 press conference, President Frederick Chiluba accused some NGOs of working against the country, only in the interest of their foreign funders, to the detriment of Zambia. We have to know who funds these NGOs in order to ensure our internal safety.