(MISA/IFEX) – According to MISA, on the night of 30 June 1998, a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent and his family escaped death after their house was set alight by unknown people in Moshi (northern Tanzania). **Updates IFEX alert of 18 June 1998** Journalist Nechi Lyimo, who is based in the northern zone, stays in […]
(MISA/IFEX) – According to MISA, on the night of 30 June 1998, a British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent and his family escaped death
after their house was set alight by unknown people in Moshi (northern
Tanzania).
**Updates IFEX alert of 18 June 1998**
Journalist Nechi Lyimo, who is based in the northern zone, stays in Shanti
town, in a house just adjacent to the main gate of Moshi Police College.
According to Lyimo, the house caught fire after what appeared to be a petrol
bomb was hurled into the house. Lyimo and his family were asleep at the
time, and he, along with his wife and their daughter, managed to escape
through a back window before the entire house was engulfed in flames.
According to the secretary of the Kilimanjaro Press Club, Daniel Mjema, the
incident is believed to be linked to a series of unusual episodes targeted
at some journalists suspected of having written a story in the “Sanifu”
newspaper on a sex scandal implicating an unnamed married woman and a
clergyman.
On 12 June 1998, Lyimo was interrogated by two policemen, whom he identified
as
Inspector Pius and Staff Sgt. Jacob, for three hours over the story. It is
believe that some more journalists were lined up for interrogation, a move
allegedly brought about by pressure from a woman married to a European.
At a press conference on 19 June, the Kilimanjaro Regional Police Commander,
Pastory Makungu, and Regional Crime officer, Jamal Rwambow, assured the
media that the police had no quarrel with them and that the policemen who
had interrogated Lyimo had no prior instruction to do so.
However, according to Kilimanjaro Press Club secretary Mjema, the two
policemen have not been reprimanded for their unethical behaviour. Mjema
added that threats against
journalists were persisting and the police seemed not to care.
Background Information
On 18 June 1998, MISA reported that at least four journalists had come under
pressure, variously from the police and private individuals, to reveal the
source of an article which appeared in January in the satirical weekly
newspaper “Sanifu.” The article reported on an unnamed Assistant Bishop who
was having an affair with a married woman in his congregation.
Among those harassed was Lyimo, who was briefly interrogated by police on 12
June, even though he had never worked for “Sanifu” and had nothing to do
with the story. After he was interrogated, police informed him that he would
be called as a witness in a court case, but to date he has no knowledge of a
court case nor has he been called as a witness.
Two weeks before Lyimo’s encounter, Mjema, who is also a journalist for
“Majira” newspaper, was approached by a policeman during an informal
encounter to reveal the source of the article. Mjema, who had also never
worked for “Sanifu”, said the policeman then told him that he would be
called in to make a statement. However, to date this has not happened. MISA
also learned that two other journalists, Lilian Kaaya and Aziz Msuya, both
of “Majira” newspaper, had been approached by private individuals offering
them money to reveal the sources of the article.
