#Zambia 🇿🇲 . @ChirwaJoan, head of @ZambiaFree and CPJ’s southern Africa researcher, was in the High Court on Thursday, as lawyers sought to have key parts of the 2025 cyber laws declared unconstitutional for violating privacy and free expression rights. The Law Association of Zambia and @CofZambia brought the petition to court, with CPJ providing advice to Free Press Initiative, which is an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, alongside @amnesty. The second state witness, Milner Makuni, director of information and communication technology at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, took the stand as the government seeks to have the petition dismissed. He described the consultations made by the government in amending the laws and confirmed that freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed in the constitution. The trial continues on Friday. CPJ warns that the vague laws grant wide powers of surveillance and data access that could be misused to undermine critical and investigative reporting. Journalists risk up to two years in prison for disseminating “false information” and up to 15 years for possessing “unauthorized data relating to critical information.” Read more: cpj.org/?p=582664