On 28 February 2000, the editor of the Kiswahili daily “Kasheshe”, Vanance Mlay, was interrogated in Dar es Salaam following his arrest over publishing what police alleged was a seditious story. The interrogation was originally scheduled to take place in the Mbeya region. The Regional Police Commander of Dar es Salaam intervened in the matter […]
On 28 February 2000, the editor of the Kiswahili daily “Kasheshe”, Vanance Mlay, was interrogated in Dar es Salaam following his arrest over publishing what police alleged was a seditious story. The interrogation was originally scheduled to take place in the Mbeya region.
The Regional Police Commander of Dar es Salaam intervened in the matter following discussions with the managing director of the Guardian Limited, Vumi Urasa, and his lawyers. Mlay was interrogated for twenty minutes by three police officers from Mbeya. He gave them a written statement and copies of the photos and story, as they demanded for their investigations.
Urasa told MISA-Tanzania that the police officers departed for Mbeya with the statement and promised to come back if they needed more information from the editor.
BACKGROUND:
On 25 February, Mlay was detained for interrogation over a story published on 18 January. The story reported that police in the Mbeya region had shot a Tunduma resident to death following a pursuit.
The Dar es Salaam police allegedly informed Mlay upon his arrest that they were under instructions from the Mbeya Regional Crime Officer (RCO), Ernest Sakawa. After his arrest, Mlay was informed that police from Mbeya had arrived with instructions to take him to the Mbeya RCO. Mlay was held in detention for five hours before being released on bail on the condition that he return to the police on 28 February for a police-escorted trip to Mbeya.
In an earlier incident, two weeks after the story appeared, two policemen (one of whom was from Mbeya), arrived at the offices of The Guardian Limited, owners of “Kasheshe”, and demanded photographs, the reporter and the source of the story reported on 18 January. When the police were denied their demands, they ordered Mlay to report to the police station the following day, where he was briefly detained and released.
