The Zambian police and military forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained, beat, and threatened opposition members and supporters as well as lawyers, journalists, and government critics in the days before and after general elections in August 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities have also yet to credibly explain or investigate the killing of an opposition leader in contested circumstances.
"Zambia's government should break this dangerous cycle of repression," said Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities should immediately halt the ongoing post-election crackdown, allow access to lawyers and provide medical care for those in detention, release everyone arbitrarily detained, and ensure accountability for abuses by security forces."
President Hakainde Hichilema was reelected in the August 13 election, which observers said was marred by irregularities such as a suspension of counting and limited fundamental freedoms. From August 24 to 28, the authorities suspended judicial services and prevented legal challenges to the presidential election results, closing and cordoning off court premises. Zambian police stated that the closures were an "intelligence-led and preventive measure," without providing details.
Human Rights Watch documented 14 cases in August that appear to have been enforced disappearances, in which the authorities refused to reveal the situation and whereabouts of a detained person. Several of these people were initially forcibly disappeared for days. Victims, family members, and lawyers said that the military held some of them.
Human Rights Watch also documented 61 cases in which detainees or their lawyers and relatives allege that they were beaten or otherwise violently abused during their arrest, in detention, or both. Eighteen have been charged with treason, with two also facing sedition charges. In many cases, the people detained were never charged with a crime while in others, the charges against them appear to be politically motivated. The government has not disclosed how many people were arrested during the crackdown or the charges against them, prompting concerns that the number of people detained is higher than presently known.
Human Rights Watch has also documented two cases in which the Zambia-based relatives of government critics living abroad say government authorities harassed and threatened them.
The post-election climate of intimidation, harassment, and repression has had a chilling effect on civic and political organizations, particularly on dissenting voices, Human Rights Watch said. On September 11, the government announced the cancellation of six government critics' passports, including that of an academic, Sishuwa Sishuwa, for "security reasons."
On August 14, security forces raided the home of the Tonse Alliance opposition leader, Brian Mundubile, in a suburb of Lusaka, the capital. Opposition members present allege that security forces killed a former government minister, Mutotwe Kafwaya, during the raid. Inspector General of the Zambia Police Service Graphel Musamba said members of a "joint intelligence-led operation" were met with "gunfire and resistance from unknown individuals" that "prompted officers to return fire," and that Kafwaya had been killed in the process. Kafwaya's fate was not known until August 19, after his wife filed a habeas corpus petition to compel authorities to disclose his whereabouts, bring him before court, and show sufficient and lawful cause for his continued detention.
Public officials made contradictory statements about the raid and who was responsible for it. On August 15, the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) sent out a text message to all registered phones in Zambia stating: "Beware of false reports of shootings and abductions. Stay calm and peaceful." The Ministry of Information and Media dismissed reports of the raid and shooting as "disinformation intended to alarm and mislead the public."
The police also issued a media statement denying that there had been a raid and that Mundubile was in police custody. Police Inspector General Musamba later admitted that there had been a "joint security-led intelligence operation" at Mundubile's home.
Mundubile, who was later arrested and charged with treason, stated in a High Court petition that Human Rights Watch has seen that he saw a member of the military fatally shoot Kafwaya.
Given the conflicting statements by government officials about who was responsible for the raid on Mundubile's home and the circumstances surrounding Kafwaya's killing, Zambian authorities should institute an independent, impartial, and thorough investigation into the matter, Human Rights Watch said.
Detainees have implicated Zambia's military in arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. Forty-three opposition members acting as election monitors were detained on August 14. Their lawyer said their whereabouts had been unknown for eight days and that the police had denied holding them. When a lawyer finally saw them, he told Human Rights Watch that "most of them were swollen and had terrible injuries, including broken bones. They said they had been brutalized by the military." Their lawyers filed a habeas corpus application and, on September 10, a court in Lusaka ordered their immediate release.
Under Zambian law and international human rights law, all detainees have the right to due process, including to be promptly informed of the charges against them, to have access to counsel if charged with a crime, to have their detention reviewed by a judge, and to be presumed innocent. They should also have access to adequate medical care and be able to communicate with their families.
In a September 2 call, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly and of association said that the authorities should "release all political detainees, respect fundamental freedoms, and restore democratic accountability." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in response that the call was "inaccurate, undiplomatic and falling short of the standards of objectivity, moderation and discretion expected of UN mandate holders."
The ministry said that being a member of opposition party "does not place a person beyond the reach of the law, nor does it convert a criminal suspect into a political detainee… The government is committed to ensuring that these protections are respected in every case, and Zambia's courts are open to test them."
Zambia will serve as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2027-2029 term. As a council member, Zambia is expected to "uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights."
"The Zambian government's needs to end its brazen human rights crackdown," Budoo-Scholtz said. "Leaders in Southern Africa and Zambia's development partners should encourage President Hichilema to restore the rule of law and ensure that civic and political spaces are protected."
Enforced Disappearances, Including by Military Personnel
Human Rights Watch documented 14 cases of apparent enforced disappearances of opposition members and supporters, including some in which the authorities denied holding people who were later produced after habeas corpus applications.
The authorities claimed to have arrested 11 men during the August 14 raid on Mundubile's home.
Lawyers and family members of seven of the men said that they were made to lie down and were beaten using fists, rifle butts, and sticks, kicked by men in military uniform, then blindfolded and driven away in military vehicles. Victims and witnesses identified members of Zambia's military through their uniforms and military vehicles.
During the same raid, security forces picked up several opposition members and supporters and forcibly disappeared them for days before family members or their lawyers found them. They included Bishop Trevor Mwamba, an opposition leader; Patrick Mwansa, a leading opposition campaigner; and security aides Jackson Mutyoka, Bernard Chewe, Brazil Soko, Francis Mulenga, and Richard Banda.
According to their lawyers and court documents seen by Human Rights Watch, the men were taken to a "military command center" where they were "screened and processed" then detained in "various police stations around Lusaka." Lawyers and family members said they went around police stations in Lusaka looking for the detainees, but authorities denied holding the men. However, some were found days later at the same stations where the police had denied holding them.
Mwansa's family said he had a broken finger and swollen face when they finally located him four days later in Lusaka's Central Police Station. On September 6, Mwansa was moved to a maximum security prison in Kabwe, 150 kilometers from Lusaka, and has not yet received medical treatment, a family member said.
The family of Bishop Mwamba, president of the opposition United National Independence Party, who was also picked up during the raid at Mundubile's home, said they searched for him in police stations in and around Lusaka for four days before locating him at Matero Police Station. Earlier, including on the day he was located, officers at Matero Police Station had denied holding Mwamba.
"He had spent days without food and without taking his prescription medication," the relative said. "The police had first denied [holding him] but we insisted to see him, because we had received an anonymous tip informing us that he was at Matero. When they brought him out and we asked what he was arrested for, police said they had no charge for him 'because he was brought in by the military who asked us to keep him in the cells for them.'"
On August 30, when the family took food and pain killers to Benard Chewe at Kabwata Police Station, where he had been detained, officers there told them that he had been moved but claimed that they did not know where. When the family traced him two days later to Mwembeshi Correctional Facility on the outskirts of Lusaka, they were denied access.
Men in unmarked vehicles who introduced themselves as "state intelligence officers" picked up Harry Findlay, a Lusaka businessman and opposition supporter, from his residence on August 4, a family member said. Neither his lawyer nor family had access to him, and the authorities did not inform them of his whereabouts. Findlay's lawyers sent two letters to Zambian authorities, on August 7 and August 17, requesting his whereabouts and calling for his immediate release and access to doctors, lawyers, and family.
On August 20, Findlay was taken to court under a judge's order to inquire into the legality of his detention. On August 29, he was charged with treason and moved to Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison, where he remains without trial.
All the men detained in the August 14 raid were eventually charged with treason and remain in detention without having appeared in court. Human Rights Watch believes that in these cases, Zambian authorities are using treason charges, which are nonbailable, and sedition, which carries a heavy penalty, to stifle dissent and political opposition.
On August 27, police arrested Mundubile and his running mate, Makebi Zulu, and subsequently also charged them with treason and seditious practices. The charge sheet, which Human Rights Watch has seen, alleges that Mundubile and Zulu went on Facebook live on August 14 stating that the opposition had won the election. The government alleges that this was meant to "raise discontent or disaffection among the people of Zambia."
On September 22, the Law Association of Zambia raised concerns about prolonged detentions without court appearances. Zambia's Human Rights Commission on September 3 said it was following 84 election-related detainees whose cases it cast as part of a "disturbing pattern of prolonged detention, delayed notification of charges, restricted access to family and legal representation and failure to bring detainees before a competent court without undue delay."
Abuse and Ill-Treatment in Custody
Human Rights Watch documented that 61 people had been mistreated in custody by reviewing court documents and interviewing family members.
Lawyers for the 43 opposition members acting as election monitors who were detained on August 14 said that state security agents kicked and beat them and denied them food during the first 8 days of their 21-day detention.
Lawyers representing 18 detainees accused of treason state in court documents that the detainees were abused and assaulted in custody and denied medical attention. The lawyers also said 10 of the 18-George Chisanga, Patrick Mwansa, Trevor Mwamba, Francis Mulenga, Brazil Soko, Jackson Mutyoka, Bernard Chewe, Richard Banda, Emmanuel Mulenga, and Darius Mwila-had been restricted from accessing their lawyers or family members.
In a court petition filed on September 11, Ezra Topola, Dickson Tembo, and Victor Muzyamba alleged that security personnel waterboarded them and suspended them from a metal bar and beat them. Findlay alleged that he was kept in solitary confinement in Mwembeshi Correctional Facility and denied access to his prescription medication. Mwansa alleged that he suffered serious injuries, including cuts to his face and a fracture on his hand, but was denied access to medical attention.
Family members told Human Rights Watch that when they found Mutyoka on August 17 at Lusaka's Central Police Station, three days after military detained him at Mundubile's home, he showed signs of having been physically abused. "When we saw him, his face was swollen, he was coughing blood and was limping," a relative said. "He said they had been made to lie down in the yard of Mundubile's home and beaten using rifle butts and whips by masked men in military unform. All he wanted was to see a doctor, but that request was denied and, to this day, he has not been seen by a doctor."
When Chewe's family members found him at Kabwata Police Station three days after he was taken from Mundubile's home, they said that he too showed signs of physical abuse. "He had a swollen forehead, busted lips, and complained of body pains," a relative said. "He said he had been assaulted by the military at their headquarters before they took him to the police station."
Lawyers for Chewe, Mutyoka, and Soko at Mwembeshi Correctional Facility said that Zambia Army Special Forces personnel interrogated them and that on September 10, authorities moved the three to Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison without informing family or lawyers.
On October 27, family members said medical doctors have not yet seen the three despite urgent letters written on September 9, seen by Human Rights Watch, to the commissioner of the Zambia Correctional Service and the officer-in-charge of Mwembeshi Correctional Facility.
Eight election monitors for the opposition, men aged 21 to 26, said a group of armed soldiers wearing uniforms and masks jumped over the perimeter wall into a house in Lusaka's Emmasdale township on August 15 around 8 p.m., where the monitors were meeting. They said the armed soldiers dragged them out of the house, kicked them with boots, and beat them with fists and sticks.
They were forced into a military truck and taken away but could not identify where they were held. For the next three days, security forces beat them several times a day, demanding confessions that they belonged to "Brian Mundubile's militia." All eight were released on August 18 without charge.
Human Rights Watch has also examined a petition filed on September 11 by lawyers for the 18 accused of treason that implicates the army in interrogations and abuse of detainees. In the petition, lawyers allege that special forces personnel led by Gen. Moses Shapwaya threatened and intimidated some of the detainees in prison to force them to incriminate Mundubile and Zulu.
Arbitrary Arrests and Detention
From court records and interviews with victims, family, and lawyers, Human Rights Watch documented 71 cases in which opposition members and supporters, as well as government critics, were arrested on charges that may be politically motivated or held in prolonged detention without charge. These include the 43 election monitors and 17 musicians and comedians who were detained after performing at an opposition rally, among others.
The arrest of the 43 monitors came after the opposition leader stated that he planned to challenge the election result in court, while the government accused him of plotting an insurgency. In an electoral court challenge, the monitors would have been potential witnesses for the opposition's case. After their 21 days in detention without charge, the court ruled that their arrest was unjustified and ordered their immediate release.
Human Rights Watch interviewed a 44-year-old Lusaka mathematician who was hired to tally numbers for a potential court challenge to President Hichilema's election. He said that on August 15 at about 9:30 p.m., about eight armed men who identified themselves as intelligence and police officers broke into his house and harassed him. They demanded access to his phone and laptop, he said, and to know who was funding the court challenge.
He said they dragged him outside, put him into a vehicle, and took him to the police headquarters in Lusaka, where he was interrogated further about the election petition. The next day, he was transferred to Ridgeway Police Station, where he spent 18 days without being charged. On August 28, his lawyer filed a habeas corpus application in the Lusaka High Court, which Human Rights Watch has seen. Five days later, police charged him with a misdemeanor offense and released him the same day.
Before the election, on August 5, a group of 17 people were arrested after performing at an opposition rally in Mongu, Western province. Police detained them for over two weeks on what was initially said to be a traffic offense of travelling in a vehicle without numbered plates, a lawyer familiar with the case told Human Rights Watch.
The lawyer said that the group's arrest and prolonged detention were politically motivated because of their vocal and visible mobilization for the opposition. Police later charged and prosecuted the 17 for "riotous assembly or behavior." In a court document seen by Human Rights Watch, the state alleges that the 17 did "unlawfully assemble and begun to execute a common purpose by a breach of peace and the terror of the public." A court released them on bail on August 30, after over three weeks in detention.
Driven into Hiding
Human Rights Watch interviewed seven people, including lawyers and a journalist, who said they had fled their homes because they believed they had been targeted for arrest in the days after the August 13 election. A lawyer and a journalist showed Human Rights Watch messages on their phones alerting them that they were on a "wanted list." Some left and others were in hiding within the country.
A statement by seven international lawyers' associations said some lawyers involved in preparing or lodging election-related legal challenges had fled Zambia due to threats to their safety.
A lawyer said that he went into hiding on August 15 after scores of security agents came to his home and office. The lawyer had been acting on behalf of Tonse Alliance, including working on a court petition to challenge President Hichilema's election. "There was no reason for the security agents to chase me in that manner," he said. "If the police wanted me for any reason, they should have alerted me, and I would have presented myself with my legal representatives."
Mulenga Kapwepwe, an opposition leader who worked closely with Mundubile and Zulu, said she went into hiding on August 15 after confidential sources alerted her that she was "on a wanted list." "I have had to rearrange my life," she said. "Many of my colleagues are in detention charged with treason, and I have been warned that the moment I come out of hiding, I will be targeted."
On August 17, a journalist who runs an investigative journalism website and has previously been detained for his journalism crossed the border into a neighboring country hours before security agents went to his house looking for him. "My website was following up on the raid at Mundubile's house," he said. "That is when I received messages on my phone saying: 'Stop what you are doing. We are coming after you.' I was once arrested and detained without charge for nearly two weeks. I know what these people are capable of. So, fearful for my life, I left."
While he was fleeing, the journalist said, he received a call from a family member that about five people who identified themselves as officers from Office of the President were at his house looking for him. They told his family that he was wanted for sedition.
Harassment of Family Members
Human Rights Watch documented two cases in which the authorities allegedly harassed and threatened the Zambia-based family members of government critics living abroad.
Police allegedly detained two siblings of a well-known diaspora critic of the government and harassed their 76-year-old father, demanding that their sibling abroad, who runs a popular social media page with hundreds of thousands of followers, take down material critical of the government.
One sibling was detained in a 3 a.m. raid on their home, in which armed police officers demanded access to their phones and laptop, a close source said, adding that one of the police officers "had a gun and said: 'This is a high security operation." The officers said the foreign-based sibling's "political commentary was 'a problem' and that they needed it to stop." The authorities allegedly demanded the removal of specific videos as a condition for their release. In one of these videos, the social media personality demanded an independent inquiry into the August 14 killing of Kafwaya.
In another case, a government critic in the United States with investments in Zambia said that three men who identified themselves as intelligence officers from the Office of the President approached family members in Zambia days after the election and threatened to "squeeze" her businesses if she continued to criticize President Hichilema's administration on social media. "They told my sister, a civil servant, that she risked losing her job if I did not tone down my criticism," the critic said.
