THE Human Rights Commission (HRC) has launched investigations to establish if the photographer who took a picture of Mwiya Sihope at Lewanika General Hospital in Mongu got permission from the subject, as not doing so would be an infringement on his rights.
HRC chairperson Pixie Yangailo said yesterday the commission wanted to know if Mr Sihope, aged 70 years, gave consent to the photographer to take a picture with a bare body.
Ms Yangailo said HRC officers in Mongu had been to the hospital and would soon go to the police and the local prison to establish some facts before issuing a comprehensive statement.
She said the photographer and the publishers, the Post Newspaper, should have considered implications of exposing nudity to the general public.
The Post edition of Wednesday, April 13, 2011 carried a picture of Mr Sihope with a bare body on the front page.
Ms Yangailo said a professional photojournalist or photographer should have covered the upper part of Mr Sihope’s body leaving the amputated leg for the picture instead of exposing him to the public in the manner the newspaper did.
“The message could have been sent by just showing the leg unlike exposing the old man’s body to the public like that, which is against human rights,” she said.
She said the picture was sensitive and was likely to injure the cultural sensibilities of Mr Sihope’s family.
The Committee of Citizens also expressed concern over the picture, with executive director, Gregory Chifire saying in a statement on Wednesday that it was not only misleading but also alien and unacceptable to Zambia.
Mr Chifire said the publication of the picture showed how low the Post had sunk ethically, morally and professionally in pursuit of its political agenda.
He advised the newspaper to desist from using innocent and unsuspecting Zambians to advance its well-known political agenda.
He said the Post raised no medically-proven connection between the patient’s condition and his detention and that if the picture was taken from hospital, the paper neglected to clarify matters with hospital medical authorities.
“The fact that they did not do so showed that their story was fuelled by ulterior motives. Contrary to the story, medical records we have accessed show that the patient referred to has been an out-patient for a chronic illness long before his detention,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Zambia Police Service refuted the story in the Post linking the amputation of Mr Sihope’s right leg to his detention in connection with the January 2011 riots in Mongu sparked by disagreements over the Barotseland Agreement.
Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde said in a statement released on Wednesday evening that when Mr Sihope was released from detention through a nolle prosequi, he had both legs.
Mr Kabonde said Mr Sihope was admitted to Lewanika General Hospital for asthma-related complications, which later made medical authorities to amputate his right leg.
He said information obtained from the hospital showed that Mr Sihope had been an out-patient undergoing treatment for chronic asthma.
He had developed wet gangrene on both legs and subsequently admitted to the hospital.
Mr Kabonde said that was the condition that led to Mr Sihope’s leg being amputated last Friday.
He appealed to the media to refrain from publishing inflammatory and unsubstantiated stories that could make people react negatively, leading to a breakdown in law and order.
[Times of Zambia]
