Zambia’s president dismisses assassination claims

  1. Posted on Monday 23 January 2012 - 10:00
    Sanday
    Image of Sanday
    Sanday Chongo Kabange in Hong Kong
    An unverified alteration on Wikipedia that Zambian President Michael Sata had died in an assassination Sunday morning prompted the presidency to strongly criticize online media and suspects facing corruption charges. Wikipedia - a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit- allowed the publication of over the wire of an edited biography of President Sata claiming that the Zambian head of state had been killed.
    Sata
    “Michael Sata was assassinated in the early hours of the 22nd of January. He was killed through a single shot to the chest, which proved to be fatal,” read the falsified Wikipedia alteration which has since been deleted.

    Source

    The alteration appears to have been done in the United Kingdom city of Crawley by unknown persons using the IP Address 82.11.64.177 through the domain name virginmedia.com with Virgin Media Limited as Internet Service Providers.

    The falsified alteration was sent through a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Digital Subscriber Loop - a family of technologies that provide internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network.

    The coordinates for the altered post appeared to be 51°6’48″N -0°10’58″W while the weather station code for the alter was UKXX0816, signifying that it was done in the England region of the UK.

    The falsified death claim was available and accessed worldwide early hours of Sunday.

    The false report was apparently picked by news blogs that flight Zambian news and current affairs but later pulled off after State House in Lusaka issued a statement in rebuttal.

    Response

    Incensed by the altered biography, President Sata’s public relations aide, George Chellah expressed misgivings and strongly blamed a named news website and some unidentified persons that are apparently being investigated on corruption charges for the claims that President Sata had died.

    Chellah said State House was saddened by the malicious, sadistic and unfounded story that claimed that President Sata was dead.

    “This follows the publication of an insensible and sickening article by a named uncouth website, claiming that the Head of State was assassinated in the early hours of today, January 22, 2012,” Chellah said. “As a matter of fact, State House is aware that such horrid stories are being perpetrated by certain rogue elements, with a bulk of them being investigated for gross misconduct and corruption in the ongoing crusade against graft.”

    The presidency has since ordered Zambia’s security wing to hunt down and arrest publishers of online news sites and blogs that produce Zambian related content.

    Blackout

    The order to hunt down online publications by authorities in Zambia comes barely two weeks after Wikipedia and other major global outfits staged an access blackout to protest against pieces of legislation being pushed by the US authorities regarding copyright on the Internet.

    The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are bills in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, respectively.

    These bills are presented as efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites.

    Opponents of the bills - including Wikipedia - have criticized the bills as a channel that would disrupt free expression and harm the Internet.

    Zambia’s Internet regulator, ZICTA is yet to comment on the involvement of Internet media in the Wikipedia alteration.

Reactions

  1. Posted on Sunday 04 March 2012 12:57
    lhauri
    Image of lhauri


    116 berichten
    Lid sinds February 2012

    maybe it is real and they did not do it. houston dentist
  2. Posted on Tuesday 17 April 2012 15:08
    imssol10
    Image of imssol10


    45 berichten
    Lid sinds March 2012

    Chellah said State House was saddened by the malicious, sadistic and unfounded story that claimed that President Sata was dead. visit website
  3. Posted on Thursday 26 April 2012 17:19
    peter89
    Image of peter89


    19 berichten
    Lid sinds April 2012

    That's strange.There has been a lot of political instability in Zimbabwe last year and to dismiss the cliam is totally hard to digest.THere has been asignificant dmemand of n acetyl cysteine in Zimbabwe last year may be becuase of too much of acetaminphen overdose due to polictical nstability and tensions.
  4. Posted on Wednesday 02 May 2012 15:40
    donatelo
    Image of donatelo


    75 berichten
    Lid sinds April 2012

    maybe he did not do it and we should find other responsible. psychic
  5. Posted on Sunday 06 May 2012 08:22
    atiqrumi
    Image of atiqrumi


    1 berichten
    Lid sinds May 2012

    ~~~~~~~~~~In case it may not do it.other do it and make responsible for that.
    masonry chicago~~~~~~~~~~
    atiqrumi modified this message on 06-05-2012 08:23 with 12%
  6. Posted on Tuesday 15 May 2012 14:34
    imssol10
    Image of imssol10


    45 berichten
    Lid sinds March 2012

    Chellah said State House was saddened by the malicious, sadistic and unfounded story that claimed that President Sata was dead. yacht charter croatia

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