ANGLICAN-INFORMATION

Tragic case of innocent man held in Malawian prison

 

 

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports recent press coverage of the judgement by Malawi judges as read out on 27^th April by Justice Elton Singini that ‘The mandatory death penalty violates an individual’s right that protects one from inhuman treatment or punishment and denies them the right to fair trial’

 

‘This does not ban capital punishment for murder but only the mandatory requirement of the death penalty’, reports Frank Phiri in Blantyre writing for the Inter Press service (Johannesburg) on 19^th June 2007.

 

In fact the ruling moves Malawi nearer to the generally accepted position vis a vis the death penalty that prevails in the European Union and most western countries – the United States being an exception.

 

Whilst this is an interesting development it is particularly relevant to the still not settled ‘poisoning’ case concerning the late Canon Rodney Hunter.  Frank Phiri goes on in his article to note that ‘Amnesty International describes the conditions in Malawian jails as “life-threatening” …….there were more than 280 deaths in prisons last year ………Most of the deaths were linked to an inadequate diet.”’

 

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that there are currently 162 people in Malawi’s prisons awaiting trial under accusation of murder.  There is little or no chance of their cases being heard for years to come as there is both a lack of money for such trials and a shortage of qualified judges.

 

One of the most unjustly imprisoned must be the former cook of the late Canon Rodney Hunter who, always a loyal and vocal supporter of his employer, would have had no reason whatsoever to ‘poison’ him and thereby deprive himself of his livelihood.  The other accused layman is now out on bail but remains with the shadow of the case hanging over him.

 

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION has recently reported in detail how there is no credibility in the accusations of the ‘murder’ of Canon Hunter.  The so-called ‘poisons’ have turned out to be prescription drugs, and the claimed ‘evidence’ of symptoms of poisoning in Canon Hunter’s unfortunate terminal vomiting points realistically to having been the result of his terminal illness.

 

Readers will recall then that two men have been arrested and one still languishes in prison apparently on no more than the ‘say-so’ of the Rev’d Denis Kayamba suspended Dean of All Saints Cathedral, Nkhotokota. 

 

In the meantime, now seven months on, the post mortem results are still not available and a man can be considered to be in danger of his life as he languishes with little hope of resolution or justice in the dangerous environment of a Malawian prison.

 

The fact that certain parts of the British press have been willing to present the case, against all the evidence, as a ‘poisoning’ and that almost unbelievably at Canon Hunter’s requiem in Oxford, U.K. mourners were encouraged to think that he had been poisoned is disgraceful. 

 

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION points out that unless something is done soon to remedy this profound injustice there may well be another death, namely that of an innocent person held indefinitely in a Malawi prison.  Those who have been enthusiastic to declare Hunter’s sad death as murder, without any real evidence, should think very carefully about the consequences of their actions.

 

22^nd June 2007