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Zambian Opposition Leader Calls on Government to Free Detained Party Members


FILE - United Party for National Development (UPND) Presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema looks on during a rally in Lusaka, Jan. 18, 2015.
FILE - United Party for National Development (UPND) Presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema looks on during a rally in Lusaka, Jan. 18, 2015.

Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema called on the government to free several members of his party who are still being detained over various charges hours after he was released from prison on Wednesday.

The state prosecutor dropped charges against him of plotting to overthrow the government. Hichilema and five others were arrested in April and charged with treason after his convoy failed to make way for President Edgar Lungu's motorcade.

"I can't say I am free when our members are in detention," he told hundreds of supporters outside his party's headquarters and called for the end of the arrest of his party's members, adding "if it doesn't end I am willing to go back to prison."

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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