Convicted Rainbow Newspaper editor-in-chief Derrick Sinjela says he hopes he will be released on Presidential pardon, adding that the media is a mirror of society which should not be broken.

Sinjela was sentenced to one-year-six-months simple imprisonment by the Supreme Court last year in September for contempt of court.

Speaking to court journalists who visited him at Lusaka Central Correctional Facility, commonly known as Chimbokaila, Thursday, Sinjela, who was in high spirits after seen his fellow reporters, said he hoped he would be released on Presidential pardon.

He said journalists should always strive to make a change in society.

He added that the media was a mirror of society which should not be broken.

“The media is just a mirror of the society. So people should not take issue with the media but regard it as a gaze,” he said.

And Sinjela said he was adapting to the prison environment, which he however described as poor.

“We are over 70 in my room and that is better. Others are above 100 per room. We are subjected to stay in the rooms from 16:00 hours to 08:00 hours the following day,” Sinjela said.

He explained that the reason they were kept in the rooms from late afternoon up to the following day was because inmates used to escape.

Meanwhile, Sinjela said he gets comfort from his daughter and wife who visited him on Wednesdays and Sundays, respectively.

He thanked the journalists who visited him and urged them to remain resolute in the execution of their duties.

Sinjela also told the journalists that he was writing a book titled ‘The Press, Prison and the Presidency’.

Last year, the Supreme Court also sentenced SANAC executive director Gregory Chifire, who is currently in exile, to six years imprisonment with hard labour and slapped Rainbow Newspaper editor-in-chief Derrick Sinjela with one year six months simple imprisonment on charges of contempt of court due to their remarks in the Savenda Vs Stanbic Bank Case.

And last month, the Supreme Court fined CiSCA chairperson Bishop John Mambo K25,000, in default serve nine months simple imprisonment, also for contempt of court.