By Our
Correspondent, Dar es Salaam TANZANIA
A
Tanzanian investigative journalist, Erick Kabendera, has appeared in a Dar es
Salaam court charged with organised crime and money laundering.
 |
| Tanzanian investigative journalist, Erick Kabendera (right), in a Dar es Salaam court |
The journalist who was arrested by
plainclothes policemen last week, appeared in court charged
with leading organised crime, failure to pay tax amounting to 173 million
Tanzanian shillings ($75,000) and money laundering of the same amount. Press
freedom advocates have called the charges “clearly retaliatory”.
The charge sheet said he “knowingly furnished
assistance in the conduct of affairs of a criminal racket, with intent either
to reap profit or other benefit”.
Kabendera, whose work has appeared in the international
newspapers like the Guardian and many other publications, has
recently published stories about political infighting and an alleged plot to
stop the re-election of the Tanzanian president, John Magufuli, who has been
criticised for a sharp increase in repression since he took power in 2015.
Kabendera seemed calm as he heard the charges in
Kisutu resident magistrate’s court in the former Tanzanian capital, Dar es
Salaam, after being held for a week by police with very limited access to his
family and lawyers.
This is against Tanzania’s constitution: a person
has to be charged in court after being detained for 24 hours, or the police
must get leave from a magistrate to keep him for longer.
Immediately after the hearing he was put into a
police van and driven to the city’s Segerea maximum security prison.
Other accusations have been levelled at Kabendera
in the last week. The day after his arrest a police spokesman said they were
working with immigration officials to “clarify his citizenship”. He was
then charged with
sedition under cybercrime laws, controversial legislation that
has been used by the president to jail his critics. Those charges were then
also dropped.
Kabendera’s lawyers had been preparing for a bail
application on Monday, but the crimes he was charged with are not bailable
offences. He was not permitted to enter a plea because, according to the court’s
magistrate, Agostino Rwezile, the court had no jurisdiction to hear his case.
The case was referred to the division of corruption
and economic crimes of Tanzania’s high court and he will be held in Segerea
until the next court date on 19 August 2019.
“Our application was meant to grant the accused an
opportunity to be heard in court or be granted bail but since he has been
brought to court, we are asking that the charges be dropped,’’ said Kabendera’s
lawyer, Jebra Kambole. Otherwise, he said, he had no objections. “We only ask
the prosecution to speed up their investigation,” he said.
Press freedom campaigners called on prosecutors to
drop the charges straight away and free him unconditionally.
“Initially police claimed to be questioning Erick
Kabendera on his citizenship. Today they have brought to court drastically
different, and clearly retaliatory, charges,” said Muthoki Mumo of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “The
continued detention of this freelance journalist is an attempt to muzzle a
critical voice and his case also has the potential to intimidate others in
Tanzania’s media community into silence.”
The British high commissioner has spoken to
Tanzanian officials about the case, and Kabendera’s supporters promised to
fight for his freedom.
“We know you didn’t organise those crimes. We know
you don’t evade tax,” Zitto Kabwe, an opposition politician, posted on his
Instagram page. “It’s your journalism, your stance, your professionalism. We,
your friends, will fight for your rights and we will win. You will be free.”
No comments:
Post a Comment