marrying. The comments were made while another person” and “failure to report change she addressed guests at a function to of ownership of a SIM card” – were dropped celebrate the victory of a men’s football team after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in a regional competition. failed to prosecute the case. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS On 22 September, a court dismissed a sedition case against the Chadema deputy In the early hours of 21 July, police officers party leader, Tundu Lissu, and four Mawio raided a hotel in Mwanza town, arresting newspaper employees, after the DPP Freeman Mbowe, leader of the main withdrew the charges. Since 2016, the five opposition Party of Democracy and Progress, had been in court repeatedly, following the commonly known as Chadema, and 11 party state’s claim that they published seditious officials. He was about to convene a meeting content in the Mawio newspaper. calling for constitutional reform.2 Later that day, three other men associated with FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Chadema were arrested in Mwanza. Freeman The Information Services Department, an Mbowe was taken to the Oysterbay police official body in the Ministry of Information, station in Dar es Salaam, presented at court Culture, Arts and Sports which has the more than five days later and charged with authority to license newspapers, continued to offences relating to economic crimes and use repressive media laws to target and financing terrorist activities, based on suppress independent reporting and restrict allegations dating back to the period between the media. The authorities imposed Section May and August 2020. The move appeared 59(2) of the Information Services Act 2016, to be a tactic to silence him. He was then which gives the minister of information transferred to Ukonga prison where he powers to ban any newspaper and to censor remained at the end of the year. The 14 media outlets. others were accused of gathering illegally and On 6 April, the president instructed contravening Covid-19 prevention measures, authorities to allow media outlets banned although such restrictions had not been under her predecessor’s administration to made public. Eleven of them were released resume operations. The director of the on police bail on 24 July and the remaining Information Services Department (also the three on 25 July. department’s Chief Government On 3 August, police arrested 22 women Spokesperson), backtracked on the order, from BAWACHA (the women’s wing of announcing on Twitter that the president had Chadema), ahead of planned protests against “directed the ban to be lifted for online Freeman Mbowe’s detention. The arrests took television only” and therefore newspapers place in multiple regions, including the remained subject to the ban “according to capital, Dar es Salaam, Mara and Mwanza. the laws”. They were held in police detention for On 11 August, the authorities suspended for between four and 15 days before being 14 days Uhuru, a newspaper owned by released on bail. Uhuru Publications Limited and established RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL by Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the ruling party. The authorities claimed that it had On 17 August, a court dropped criminal published a false report carrying the charges against Idris Sultan, a Tanzanian headline: “I have no intention of running for actor, comedian and radio host, who was the presidency in 2025 – Samia”. The CCM arrested in May 2020 for alleged “cyber- Secretary General responded by saying that bullying” after he distributed a video on social the newspaper’s board had suspended three media in which he mocked the late senior managers, including the CEO, over the president. The charges against him – “failure story and that they were conducting to register a SIM card previously owned by Amnesty International Report 2021/22 361