Tanzanian court dismisses objections to opposition leader’s trial

The terrorism case against the leader of Tanzania’s main opposition party can go ahead as planned, a Dar es Salaam High Court judge said on Wednesday, dismissing his party’s objections.

Chadema party chairman Freeman Mbowe and his supporters described the charges as a politically motivated effort to crush dissent and accused police of torturing him in custody.

His lawyers had argued that the High Court’s Corruption and Economic Crimes Division where he was appearing lacked the power to hear the case, which was previously handled by a district court.

But on Wednesday, Judge Elinaza Luvanda declared that “this court is competent to hear terrorism cases and therefore I do not agree with the objection of the defendants”.

The hearing was held under tight security, in the presence of some representatives of foreign embassies and top Chadema leaders, but many journalists were barred from entering the courtroom by the police.

Mbowe has been behind bars since July 21, when he was arrested along with a number of other senior Chadema officials in an overnight police raid hours before they held a public forum to demand a constitutional reform.

The 59-year-old has been charged with terrorist financing and conspiracy in a case that has raised concerns about democracy and the rule of law under President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

On Monday, Mbowe appeared in court to file a lawsuit against senior judicial officials, claiming his constitutional rights were violated during his arrest and when he was charged.

His defense team say he was held without charge for five days and then charged without his lawyer present.

The opposition denounced the arrests as a return to the oppressive regime of the late Tanzanian leader John Magufuli, who died suddenly in March.

There had been hopes that Hassan would usher in a new era of democracy after the increasingly autocratic rule of Magufuli, nicknamed the “Bulldozer” for his uncompromising style.

But Chadema leaders say the arrests reflect a deeper slide towards “dictatorship.”

Prosecutors said the allegations against Mbowe did not relate to the constitutional reform conference Chadema planned to hold in the port city of Mwanza in July, but alleged violations last year in another part of Tanzania.

Chadema said prosecutors accused Mbowe of conspiring to attack a public official and paying 600,000 Tanzanian shillings ($ 260/220 euros) to blow up gas stations and public gatherings and fell trees to block roads.