A Chinese man who made and sold videos of exploited Malawian children and underage girls, have been arrested in Zambia after his action caused worldwide condemnation including China which strongly denounced its citizen’s actions.
Malawian authorities said in a statement on Wednesday that it was working closely with the Zambian authorities to have the Chinese, Lu Ke, extradited to Malawi where rights campaigners say he should face justice.
Immigration officials in Malawi said in a statement their counterparts in Zambia arrested Lu Ke on Monday in the eastern Chipata district after he had escaped to the East African country last week in the heat of the condemnation that followed the videos.
“We got a report from our colleagues that he was found in a lodge in Chipata when he wanted to make some immigration formalities so that so he should be in line with Zambian laws,” the spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services in central Malawi, Pasqually Zulu, said.
Zulu said the Malawi government is working with Zambian authorities to bring the suspect back to Malawi for criminal proceedings.
Lu Ke had fled Malawi where police were searching for him after a BBC investigation found he was recording young villagers in central Malawi and making them say racist things about themselves in the Chinese language, Mandarin.
In one video, the children, some as young as 9 years old, were heard saying in Mandarin that they are “black monsters ” and have a “low IQ.”
The BBC had reported that Lu Ke was selling the videos at up to $70 apiece to a Chinese website while the kids performing in the videos were paid about a half dollar each.
The news sparked outrage in Malawi and on Tuesday, various rights organizations held street protests and presented a petition to the Chinese Embassy in the capital of Lilongwe.
In the petition, protesters asked the Chinese to compensate the children in the videos for being fooled to say words in a foreign language they could not understand.
“This is one of the things we were hoping would happen. And we are hoping that his arrest will lead to his prosecution in Malawian courts in which he will be tried for his action against our children, and indeed lead to him having to pay compensation,” Comfort Mankhwazi, president of the University of Malawi Child Rights Legal Clinic that led the protests, said as she welcomed the arrest of Lu Ke.
Zambia’s ruling party, the UPND, has warned opposition politicians and critics against personal attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema as his meekness should not be mistaken for weakness.
Secretary-General of the UPND, Batuke Imenda, who gave the warning in a statement in Lusaka on Monday, urged political opponents to always engage in mature and issue-based discourse.
Zambia Monitor reports that Imenda’s warning, was directed at the leader of Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) party, Kelvin Bwalya Fube, whose recent remarks Imenda described as “provocative” and a “feeble attempt to mislead citizens.”
“Provocative words uttered by Kelvin Bwalya against our party and President Hichilema are a clear demonstration of naivety,” Imenda said in the statement.
He further advised Bwalya to abandon personal attacks and focus on substantial political issues.
The UPND Secretary suggested that Bwalya’s attacks stemmed from a desire for relevance amid declining political fortunes, hinting at a possible alignment with former President Edgar Lungu.
“It appears KBF is hoping that Edgar Lungu might support his embattled political career by unjustly attacking President Hichilema,” he said.
Imenda defended the President’s record, highlighting that under Hichilema’s leadership, Zambia’s democratic space had expanded compared to the previous PF administration, which he accused of stifling freedoms.
He noted that while criticism was welcome, it should not devolve into baseless attacks, warning that opposition figures should not misinterpret Hichilema’s restraint as weakness.
Imenda also criticized Bwalya for overlooking the gains in transparency and justice since the change in government, claiming that past regimes were marked by resource mismanagement and corruption.
The Nigerian government has officially withdrawn the treason charges it entered against some minors who participated in the #EndBadGovernance protest that spread across the country from August 1 to the 10th.
The nation was thrown into shock on Friday when the Nigeria Police presented 76 protesters at the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges bordering on treason. Among the suspects were four minors who slumped before they could be arraigned before the court.
This caused serious uproar in the country with Nigerians condemning the government and calling for the unconditional release of the kids and the dismissal of the charges against them.
The decision to withdraw the charges against the underage accused came following a directive by President Bola Tinubu who ordered the immediate withdrawal of the charges and an in-depth investigation into what led to the arrest and detention of the minors.
Tinubu had also ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN) to officially take over the case file as well as review the cases following public outcry that came with the arraignment of the minors.
The charges were finally withdrawn on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja through an application for discontinuance filled by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the AGF.
According to Abubakar, the discontinuance application was based on provisions of sections 174(1), (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.
The DPPF also applied for further proceedings to be conducted without the presence of the minors in the courtroom, in line with provisions of Section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, and Section 1 of the Childs’ Rights Act.
In response, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Fanala (SAN), who stood in for the accused as well as other defence lawyers in the matter, did not oppose the applications which promoted the judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, to strike out the charges, while the four affected minors were also delisted from the charge sheet.