Amnesty Condemns Zambia’s Cancellation of Critics’ Passports

By Mintesinot Nigussie  |  September 14, 2026

Amnesty International has condemned Zambia’s decision to cancel the passports of several prominent government critics, calling the move a violation of international human rights law and demanding that the documents be restored.

The organisation said the passports of former Zambian Ambassador to Ethiopia and former Permanent Representative to the African Union Emmanuel Mwamba, historian and academic Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa, former opposition Members of Parliament Binwell Mpundu and Emmanuel Jay Banda, former State House Special Assistant Kaizer Zulu, and blogger Lillian Mutambo were cancelled on September 11.

Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said the authorities were using citizenship documents as a tool against dissidents, activists and political opponents.

“The arbitrary cancellation of passports by Zambian authorities is a violation of international human rights law,” Chikwanda said.

She said the decision breached the right to freedom of movement protected under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Zambia is a party.

The move comes amid what Amnesty described as a wider post-election crackdown on dissent, including arrests and detention of opposition figures and other government critics.

Chikwanda also argued that cancelling the passports left those affected in a position of “de facto statelessness”, undermining their ability to travel and access basic civil protections.

“Amnesty International calls on the Zambian authorities to revoke these passport cancellations, restore these individuals’ passports and remedy any harm resulting from this unlawful decision,” she said.

The Zambian authorities said the passports were cancelled “in the interest of national security”.

However, Amnesty said Zambia’s Passports and Citizenship legislation sets out specific circumstances in which a passport may be cancelled. These include loss of citizenship, obtaining a passport through fraud or misrepresentation, certain forms of passport fraud, specified criminal convictions and death.

Political criticism or opposition to the government is not listed as an independent ground for passport cancellation under the legislation, according to Amnesty.

The organisation has previously warned of a deterioration in Zambia’s human rights situation before, during and after the country’s general elections, citing arbitrary arrests and detention and alleged attacks and intimidation targeting human rights defenders, activists, journalists and opposition party members.

Amnesty said the post-election tensions were followed by further arrests of opposition members, while the killing of former Cabinet Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya during a security operation represented a further escalation of the crackdown.

Source: FSX Business News