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The Committee for the Protection of Journalists worries for the safety of investigative journalist Erick Kabendera, who was forced to leave his home today, and asked the Tanzanian police to reveal if she was in custody.
The woman from Kabendera, who was quoted in The citizen , said that about six people who claimed to be policemen had taken her husband from their home in the suburbs of Dar es Salaam. The two men claimed that they were taking the journalist to the Oysterbay police station, but they did not wear uniforms and refused to identify when they were stopped. , The citizen I said. The men also took away phones belonging to Kabendera, his wife and his neighbors, who recorded and took pictures of the incident.
If colleagues and a lawyer from the Tanzanian Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights went to the police station to investigate the journalist, Kabendera was not there, according to Watetezi TV, an badociated media outlet. to the coalition, and Ansbert Ngurumo, a Tanzanian journalist at the head of the newspaper. the news blog Sauti Kubwa of exile, and who follows the case. Watetezi TV reported that the police station had sent the lawyer to the central police in Dar es Salaam.
Lazaro Mambosasa, Chief of Police of Dar es Salaam, said The citizen that the case was not reported to them. Millard Ayo and Jamii Forums Kinondoni police, who are also in Dar es Salaam, were reported to have interrogated the journalist. CPJ could not confirm that the journalist had been arrested by the police. A late call to the Inspector General of Police, Simon Sirro, remained unanswered.
"The manner in which this journalist was arrested, by men posing as police officers, is very disturbing and constitutes further evidence that the press is not safe in President John Magufuli's Tanzania," Muthoki said. Mumo, CPJ representative for sub-Saharan Africa. "The authorities must immediately reveal whether they detain Erick Kabendera, and for what reason, and ensure that the journalist is sent back safely to his family."
Ngurumo told CPJ that Kabendera said yesterday that he feared that one of his phone numbers would be compromised. Another journalist, who speaks with Kabendera and asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, told CPJ that Kabendera had expressed his concerns earlier for his safety.
Kabendera's work appeared in The citizens sister publication East Africa , the website African Arguments , and the British newspaper The Guardian .
Freedom of the press has severely deteriorated in Tanzania under the presidency of John Magufuli, CPJ said. In 2017, freelance journalist Azory Gwanda disappeared in the country's coastal region and has not heard from him since.
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