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A leading Zambian journalist went on trial today for circulating pornography. She sent government officials photos of a woman who had to give birth in a hospital parking lot because of a health care worker strike in the southern African country. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with the BBC’s Jo Fidgen in Lusaka.

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. A healthcare horror in the African nation of Zambia has taken a rather bizarre turn. Back in June a hospital in the capital Lusaka turned away a pregnant woman in labor because nurses there were on a prolonged strike. The woman gave birth in the hospital parking lot. She had no medical assistance and her baby died. There are photographs of the birth. The woman’s husband was so distraught that he sent the photos to a news editor. The editor didn’t publish them. Instead she sent the photos to some top government officials. They responded by charging editor with circulating pornography. Well today the editor went on trial. The BBC’s Jo Fidgen is in Lusaka. How was it Jo that these photos have been deemed pornographic?

JO FIDGEN: Well this was what the president said at a news conference. He referred to these photographs, which at that point no one knew about, and said that they were pornographic and that the photographer should be arrested. Pornography is illegal in Zambia. The photographs are quite graphic. They’re shocking. They show a woman in the process of giving birth to a breach baby. One of them is a close up. It shows the baby’s legs, torso, arms, and shoulders out of the mother’s body but the head has not yet been delivered. The decision that has to be made in court is firstly, were these photographs obscene? And secondly, was the news editor, Chansa Kabwela’s intention to corrupt morals?

MULLINS: We should say here that the baby, as we mentioned in the introduction, did not make it. The baby actually suffocated. It would seem though in the larger picture that the government ministers have missed the point. What is the government pursuing through these charges if he is not pursuing the fact that this happened as a result of the nurses’ strike.

FIDGEN: This is the news editor’s case. She says that her clear intention was to draw attention to the nurses’ strike and not to cause offense. And she sent a letter accompanying these photographs which stated… You know it was headlined The Desperate Situation in our Hospitals and calling for a negotiated end to the strike. It’s her view that the president has missed the point. The context for this case is the newspaper in question, The Post. It’s the largest independent newspaper – the most popular newspaper – in Zambia. It has a very poor relationship with this government and with this president in particular and he has made no secret of his dislike of the paper. According to Chansa Kabwela, the news editor who’s on trial, she questions whether any other journalist from any other paper would be facing what she is facing.

MULLINS: And what has happened to the mother?

FIDGEN: Well amazingly she is said to be healthy. She has not… Nobody has spoken to her. The Post newspaper is protecting its sources because it’s her relatives apparently who took the photographs and if they’re identified then they would be at risk of arrest.

MULLINS: Alright the BBC’s Jo Fidgen in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Jo, thank you.

FIDGEN: Thank you.

MULLINS: By the way that nurses’ strike did come to an end in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, but nurses who were looking for a 25% increase in pay and other benefits are threatening to strike again.

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