Zambian bloggers and journalists are expected on Friday to protest against their government’s alleged harassment and arrests of bloggers and journalists working for online news media.

Three journalists working for the Zambian Watchdog have so far been arrested by the Zambian government, in what is seen as the beginning of the clampdown on social media and online newspapers critical of the government.

One of the journalists has been charged with sedition which carries a jail term of seven years after he was found with a handwritten obituary of Zambian president Michael Sata.

The Zambian government has already blocked access to the Zambian Watchdog website and even reading it on Facebook is proving difficult.

The Zambian bloggers association said it has noted with great concern the growing number of incidents of censorship taking place in the country coupled with an afront clampdown on freedom of speech and expression.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also condemned the Zambian government for the clampdown on online news media.

CPJ Africa programme coordinator Sue Valentine has said the Zambian government should stop the ongoing harassment of online media including the Zambian Watchdog.

“It is alarming to see a democratically elected government determined to silence and intimidate its critics,” Valentine said.

The blocking of the Zambian Watchdog website follows numerous warnings by the Zambian government to closedown online newspapers which they accuse of promoting hate speech and casting aspersions on ministers and senior government officials.

Last year, Sata ordered the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), the country’s telecom sector regulator and other government agencies to explore ways of blocking the Zambian Watchdog and other online newspapers.