TANZANIA DETAINED JOURNALIST COULD SPEND FIVE YEARS IN JAIL WITHOUT TRIAL

Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA

A Tanzanian journalist charged with money laundering and leading organised crime could face up to five years in jail without trial because bail is not guaranteed in cases involving alleged economic crimes, his legal team has warned.

Erick Kabendera’s lawyers and family also criticised Tanzanian immigration authorities for refusing to return his wife and children’s passports, even though allegations over his citizenship have been dropped.

A prominent figure who has consistently held John Magufuli’s government to account, Kabendera appeared in court on Thursday for the fourth time since his arrest in August only for his case to be postponed. Footage subsequently appeared on Twitter of the journalist limping from court.

Widely held to be politically motivated, Kabendera’s detention is part of a “very disturbing” pattern of increasing media repression and intimidation in Tanzania, according to the International Federation of Journalists.

The accusations against him changed several times, ranging from claims that he was not a Tanzanian national to sedition under cyber-crime laws, before the police settled on economic crimes.

Kabendera’s lawyer said resolving the economic crimes allegations in the near future would be “mostly impossible”.

“Some people stay [in detention] even for five years,” Jebra Kambole said. “The only issue that can help Erick is if the investigation will be completed on time, or if the state decides to drop charges against Erick.”

Kabendera’s health has deteriorated since being detained, but so far he has not been allowed to go to hospital for medical checks.

“He complains of breathing difficulties, especially during the night. We don’t know what the problem is because there are no proper medical tests done,” Kambole said. “In mid-August, both his legs had some sort of paralysis and he said he was getting weak.”

Kabendera’s sister, Prisca Kabendera, said she thought he could be experiencing panic attacks.

She described the ordeal that their family has gone through, especially soon after his arrest, when the authorities said they were trying to “clarify his citizenship”.

“My father was interrogated by the immigration officers for hours,” she said, adding that the 82-year-old had endured this alone, as he lives on the other side of the country. “He was taken to his parents’ and grandparents’ graveyards, taking pictures of him at the graves and even using marker pens to write on unlabelled graves. That devastated him so much.”

They also confiscated the passports held by Kabendera’s wife and children, in effect holding them hostage, Prisca said.

“They cannot go anywhere and immigration don’t want to return the passports or clear their citizenship allegations. They won’t return the passports or issue a statement to clear him.

“He’s worried about his family, especially the kids. Knowing this whole thing was made up to torture him, he doesn’t know how far they can go.”

It is very hard to believe that the case against Kabendera is motivated by anything but his work as a journalist, said Kajubi Mukajanga, the executive secretary of the Media Council of Tanzania.

“Kabendera’s case has been handled politically from the first moment. Kabendera’s case has left a lot of questions unanswered from the word go,” he said.

“Accusations against him kept changing, changing, changing – they brought the citizenship thing, it couldn’t stick, so they left it, they went to cyber-crime, that didn’t stick either, so they left it, they went to sedition, it couldn’t stick either, so they left it, and eventually they said: ‘What the hell? Just charge him with economic crimes, throw him in jail and you don’t have to prove anything.’”

There has been a deterioration of press freedom in Tanzania under the Magufuli administration, according to several media rights organisations.

Another journalist, Joseph Gandye, was arrested and held for two days after investigating reports of police violations including sexual abuse. Azory Gwanda, another reporter, has been missing for nearly two years.

Soon after Kabendera’s arrest, the UK and the US released a statement saying they were “deeply concerned about the steady erosion of due process in Tanzania”, pointing to Kabendera’s case in particular. The UK is the largest provider of foreign direct investment to Tanzania, and has suspended aid in the past over corruption allegations, while the US spent $446m(£362m) in foreign assistance in 2018, which means their actions carry weight.

Last year, Magufuli said he preferred Chinese assistance as it carried fewer conditions.

The pro-government, self-styled activist Cyprian Musiba claimed that the US-UK statement was fabricated by local journalists who had photo-shopped the countries’ logos on to the document. “A traitor,” read a recent front page headline by his newspaper, adding: “Erick Kabendera backs western nations not Tanzania”.

Mukajanga was not optimistic that the environment for journalists would improve soon.

“People need to be realistic,” he said. “The situation will get worse before it gets better.” - Guardian