(MISA/IFEX) – Home Affairs Minister Omar Ramadhani Mapuri has offered a public apology and retracted a 16 September 2005 statement in which he declared lawful the conduct of prison warders and prisoners accused of violating the human rights of a journalist and civilians. The minister, while retracting his earlier statement, argued that it had been […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Home Affairs Minister Omar Ramadhani Mapuri has offered a public apology and retracted a 16 September 2005 statement in which he declared lawful the conduct of prison warders and prisoners accused of violating the human rights of a journalist and civilians.
The minister, while retracting his earlier statement, argued that it had been misinterpreted by the media as approval of the conduct of prison wardens and prisoners who had severely beaten and injured a number of civilians and a journalist during the 10 September eviction of former tenants of the Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC). The injured included Mwananchi Communications Limited journalist Mpoki Bukuku and Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHC) activist Christopher Kidanka.
The Media Owners Association of Tanzania ( MOAT), journalists’ associations and the LHC have issued a joint statement rejecting the minister’s apology, saying it was not sincere and not directed to the victims whose human rights had been violated.
The organisations have also demanded that the minister and Prisons Commissioner Nicas Banzi be dismissed. They also called upon all media outlets to stop covering events conducted by either the minister or the Prisons Department until the two officers are removed from their current positions.
