Court fines man for calling president 'stupid'

The man called President Joyce Banda “stupid and a failure”.

By AFP Tuesday 23 Jul 2013, 6:11 PM

Jul 23rd 2013, 6:11 PM 8,773 Views 19 Comments

http://jrnl.ie/1005568

President of Malawi Joyce Banda

Image: Lefteris Pitarakis/PA Wire

President of Malawi Joyce Banda

Image: Lefteris Pitarakis/PA Wire

A MALAWIAN MAN who was arrested for calling President Joyce Banda “stupid” has been fined $45 after pleading guilty to the offence.

Police had charged 37-year-old Japhet Chirwa with breaching the peace, after he vented his anger at the authorities for failing to change the name in his passport. He then called Banda “stupid and a failure”.

Magistrate Lilian Munthali said the sentence would “teach others a lesson to respect the head of state and freedom of speech had limits”.

Chirwa faced an alternative of six months in jail. His family pooled together funds to pay the fine.

Police spokesman Maurice Chapola said Chirwa’s guilty plea had come as a surprise but did not give further details.

Read: Malawi confirms its president is dead>

Short URL

About the author:

About the author

AFP

See more articles by AFP

Contribute to this story:

Send a Correction

COMMENTS (19)

∞

About Us

Corrections

Report Content

Policies

TheJournal.ie is a full participating member of the Press Council of Ireland and supports the Office of the Press Ombudsman. This scheme in addition to defending the freedom of the press, offers readers a quick, fair and free method of dealing with complaints that they may have in relation to articles that appear on our pages. To contact the Office of the Press Ombudsman Lo-Call 1890 208 080 or go to www.pressombudsman.ie or www.presscouncil.ie

Please note that TheJournal.ie uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide services and advertising. For more information on cookies please refer to our cookies policy.

News images provided by Press Association and Photocall Ireland unless otherwise stated. Irish sport images provided by Inpho Photography unless otherwise stated. Wire service provided by Associated Press.

Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for user created content, posts, comments, submissions or preferences. Users are reminded that they are fully responsible for their own created content and their own posts, comments and submissions and fully and effectively warrant and indemnify Journal Media in relation to such content and their ability to make such content, posts, comments and submissions available. Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Court fines man for calling president 'stupid'

The man called President Joyce Banda “stupid and a failure”.