Amnesty International has condemned the revocation of passports belonging to six critics by the Zambian authorities.

The Zambian government, in a recent statement, revoked the passports of six individuals, including former ambassador to Ethiopia Emmanuel Mwamba, former Petauke member of parliament Emmanuel Jay Banda and ex-Nkana member of parliament Binwell Mpundu.

Others include Kaiser Zulu, a former special assistant to the Zambian president for politics during the Patriotic Front administration, Sishuwa Sishuwa and social media vlogger, Lillian Mutambo.

The government noted that their passports were no longer valid for identification, travel or any official purpose, warning that any use of the cancelled documents might constitute an offence.

Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Vongai Chikwanda, who reacted to the development on Sunday, described the revocation as a violation of international law.

“The arbitrary cancellation of passports by Zambian authorities is a violation of international human rights law,” Mr Chikwanda stated. “By weaponising citizenship documents to target dissidents, activists, or political opponents, authorities explicitly breach the right to freedom of movement enshrined in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR.”

The deputy director explained that the revocation was deeply concerning, particularly given the wider post-election crackdown on dissent, including arbitrary arrests and detention of members of the opposition and other government critics.

According to Mr Chikwanda, the decision to cancel the passports effectively stripped the individuals of their legal and social identity and traps them in a state of de facto statelessness.

“It undermines their dignity and basic civil protections,” he added.

Amnesty International noted that under Zambia’s passports and citizenship legislation, the cancellation of a passport is permitted only on specified grounds, including loss of citizenship, obtaining a passport through fraud or misrepresentation, certain forms of passport fraud, specified convictions and death.

It clarified that political criticism or opposition to the government was not, in itself, a stated ground for cancellation.

Mr Chikwanda called on the Zambian authorities to revoke the passport cancellations, restore the individuals’ passports and remedy any harm resulting from the unlawful decision.

The development followed alleged deterioration in the human rights situation in the country in the run-up to, during and after the general elections, marked by arbitrary arrests and detention, as well as attacks and intimidation targeting human rights defenders, activists, journalists and opposition political party members.