Macmillan Mhone was arrested by the police of the African country for an article in which he accused a businessman of corruption and legal evasion. He was released a day later more than 300 kilometers from his home.

Reporters Without Borders calls it "intimidation," and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on Malawi authorities to withdraw all legal proceedings against Mhone. The informant, who had not yet granted any interview, describes what happened in a telephone conversation. Is there freedom of the press in Malawi? Ask the author. The author says Malawi is a country where there is freedom of expression and freedom of speech. The article was published on August 15, 2023, by the Malawi24 digital news portal. It reported that businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala, then pending trial for fraud and corruption, allegedly operated a network of companies involved in obtaining contracts and public tenders. The next day, he was transferred to Lilongwe and released. The article for which you are arrested reports on a network of digital companies used by businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala to evade the law and secure public government contracts. The Anti-Corruption Office had detained him in 2021, but, as our investigation revealed, he continued to operate through these intermediary companies to obtain public contracts. The businessman demanded that the article be deleted, which - and I have no evidence of this - makes me suspect that he may continue operating from the shadows. In my opinion, a businessman like him has enough power to pressure the police to intimidate journalists, as has happened to me. If their tactic was to cover the trail of the investigation, they have failed. In an official statement, Malawi Police Service Public Relations Officer Peter Kalaya said that traces of the article were not in the interest of the Malawi Government. The article mentions a company, Bembeke Trading Limited, which may currently be negotiating multi-million dollar contracts with the Government. A company that, precisely, is linked to employees of Mr. Batatawala.