Selective justice is injustice: Why protecting the rights of even the worst amongst us matters
By Linda Kasonde
ON 14th October 2026, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Mulambo Haimbe SC, made a statement in the National Assembly that arrangements have been made for legal assistance in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and other African countries to extradite Zambian “naysayers” who have fled to those countries.
On 16th October 2026, the Zambia Police Service confirmed that former Petauke Member of Parliament Emmanuel Jay Banda had been apprehended in Mozambique and returned to Zambia. Mr Banda was a fugitive from justice having fled the country whilst facing serious charges of aggravated robbery and attempted murder. Whilst on the run, Mr Banda had posted a series of disturbing videos which included threats on President Hakainde Hichilema’s life and tribal hate speech. These actions deserve to be condemned and their lawfulness or otherwise should be only be determined by a court of law.
Regarding the apprehension of Mr Banda, Zambia and Mozambique are both State parties to the SADC Protocol on extradition which sets out procedures and protection mechanisms for extradition of SADC citizens. Mozambique equally has its own constitution and laws on extradition that must be observed and respected.
In a joint statement issued by local and regional civil society organisations and human rights defenders on 18th October 2026, the Zambian and Mozambican Governments were challenged to explain whether they had followed the lawful extradition procedures under Mozambican and international law to bring Mr Banda back to Zambia. The statement was not issued in defence of Mr Banda’s reprehensible actions, but merely to affirm the principle that everyone is entitled to their human rights, due process, and the security of the law – even the worst among us.
This is important because once you give lawlessness and impunity a foothold in your governance system, gives licence to those in power to do it again – even where the alleged offence is innocent of any crime but merely someone whom is not looked on favourably by those in power.
There is a pattern of cross-border abductions in the East African region, particularly, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and most recently Kenya, where Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was apprehended by the Kenyan authorities and handed over to the Ugandan government without following proper extradition procedures recognised in international law. His crime? Being a “dissident”: a consistent thorn in President Yoweri Museveni’s side.
Within these countries, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and torture are no longer unexpected occurrences and these countries now appear to be operating as a network to punish dissidents that find themselves in each other’s countries. For example, in May 2025, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire travelled to Tanzania in order to offer solidarity of detained Tanzanian opposition leader Mr Tundu Lissu on the first day of his treason trial. Mwangi and Atuhaire were abducted from their hotel rooms and interrogated and tortured by Tanzanian security wings; including the sexual assault of both of them. They were later dumped at border towns from where they found their way to safety.
Closer to home, stories of abduction and torture of dissidents are not uncommon in neighbouring Zimbabwe. In August 2018, Zimbabwean opposition leader Mr Tendai Biti crossed the border into Zambia seeking asylum. The Zambian High Court issued a court order to prevent Mr Biti from being sent back to Zimbabwe. In defiance of that court order, the Zambian authorities deported Biti back to Zimbabwe. That is why Emmanuel Jay Banda’s case matters.
Are we seeing the emergence of cross-border cooperation between Zambia and neighbouring countries to prevent citizens from genuinely seeking safety from repressive governments in other countries? Only time will tell. Once a government discovers that it can escape accountability for illegal actions it becomes a slippery slope for the rights of any citizen that does not find favour with the Government of the day. That is why accountability matters. That is why everyone’s rights matter. Selective justice is injustice. Everyone’s rights matter, even those whom we despise.
Linda Kasonde is a Zambian lawyer and human rights activist. She is a former President of the Law Association of Zambia, Executive Director of the LCK Freedom Foundation and an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow.
