Government to discuss fresh US, UK ‘concern’

Dar es Salaam. The government has said it will issue a statement in response to a concern voiced by the US and UK embassies over what they said was the “steady erosion of due process” in Tanzania.

Justice and Constitution Affairs minister Augustine Mahiga confirmed that the government had seen a joint statement the embassies released yesterday to raise particular issue with the arrest of freelance journalist Erick Kabendera.

“We (the Justice and Constitution Affairs ministry) have referred the matter to the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the DPP (Director of Public Prosecution)’s office,” Dr Mahiga said when reached for comment on the statement.

He added: “…after that we will sit together and issue a government position with regards to the joint statement (by the embassies).”

In their statement, the US and UK embassies said the “erosion of due process in Tanzania” was evidenced by “lengthy pretrial detentions and shifting charges by its justice system”.

They expressed concern about the “irregular handling of the arrest, detention and indictment” of Kabendera, who they said was “denied access to a lawyer in the early stages of his detention, contrary to the Criminal Procedures Act”.

On Monday, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court charged and detained Kabendera with organised crime and financial offences, a week after his arrest at his home.

Six men in plain clothes on July 29 took the journalist from his Dar es Salaam home and brought him in for questioning over what police said were irregularities with his citizenship.

That line of inquiry was later dropped, and authorities announced Kabendera was facing a much more serious charge of sedition under cybercrime laws.

A member of his defence team, Shilinde Swedy, was quoted in the media as saying that prosecutors had seemingly abandoned those charges as well, noting that the sedition charges were not brought before the judge.

In their statement, the US and UK embassies noted: “We urge the Government of Tanzania to guarantee due process to each of its citizens, which it has recognised as a basic human right as signatory to multiple UN Human Rights Conventions, among them the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights,” part of the statement reads.

Dr Mahiga noted that the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) were handling the matter.

“We understand that the issuance of the joint statement has been triggered by a recent case (of freelance journalist Erick Kabendera).”