Tanzania suspends paper for linking gunman to ruling party

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Tanzania suspends paper for linking gunman to ruling party

9:18 CAT | 06 Sep 2021

FILE - Tanzania's new President Samia Suluhu Hassan takes oath of office following the death of her predecessor John Pombe Magufuli in Dar es Salaam, Aug. 11, 2021. [File photo: Reuters]

The Tanzanian government on Sunday suspended a private newspaper for 30 days after it linked a “terrorist” gunman who killed four people to the country’s ruling party.

Read: Tanzania: Form independent body to probe Hamza incident: call

Read: Tanzania: Security agony for Dar, Nairobi as terror suspects sneak back home – The East African

Police said the assailant who had shot dead three police officers and a private security guard in a rampage in the diplomatic quarter of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam last month had been radicalised through the internet.

But on Friday, the Raia Mwema newspaper linked the gunman — named as Hamza Mohamed — to the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Government spokesman Gerson Msigwa said in a statement the paper was suspended for publishing misleading stories and violating the law and journalistic ethics.

“This is a violation of licence conditions and a threat to national security by promoting stories that create hatred among the communities,” he said.

Read: Slain Tanzania gunman was ‘terrorist’: police

Read: Security agencies put Kenya-Tanzania border on terror watch list

Last month, the government suspended a newspaper owned by CCM for 14 days for publishing a “false” story about Hassan which said she was not considering running for president in elections in 2025.

After Hassan took office in March, there were hopes she would turn the page on the increasingly autocratic rule of her late predecessor John Magufuli, also of the CCM.

But concern about the state of democracy in Tanzania has heightened after the arrest in July of the leader of the main opposition Chadema party, Freeman Mbwowe, who faces trial on charges of terrorism.

Raia Mwema linakuwa gazeti la pili kufungiwa kwa muda ndani ya mwezi mmoja baada ya Serikali kusitisha kwa wiki mbili leseni ya uchapaji na usambazaji ya gazeti la Uhuru linalomilikiwa na Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM).https://t.co/KJ7eVJRP9W

— Nukta Tanzania (@NuktaTanzania) September 6, 2021

IGP SIRO sikia wananzengo wanaomboleza kifo Cha Hamza Mohamed, alisaidia ujenzi ofic ya CCM #kitete pia alishirik uporaj wa uchaguz 2020. Kifo chake ni pigo kubwa kwa familia yake na Kata ya Bwawan wilayan Chunya. https://t.co/QEQTOOFpQH

— Drawdz2007🇹🇿 (@drawdz2007) August 29, 2021

The family of Hamza Mohamed, the man who killed four people, including three policemen, before being shot dead last week near #Tanzania’s French Embassy, are in shock after learning from law enforcers that their relative was said to be a terrorist. pic.twitter.com/RVT0wEIZnB

— MwanzoTV (@MwanzoTv) September 3, 2021

Ieleweke vizuri&iwekwe kwenye kumbukumbu vizuri kwamba ripoti ya jana ya DCI inasema Hamza Mohamed mwanachama wa @ccm_tanzania alikuwa gaidi. Hakuna siku wala mbaka sasa chama chake hakijatoka hadharani kukanusha chochote juu ya ugaidi uliofanywa na mwanachama wao kwako msajili🤔 pic.twitter.com/ctzU6iTH5P

— Necto Kitiga (#MboweSioGaidi) (@NectoKitiga) September 3, 2021

Tanzania Suspends Second Newspaper in Less Than a Month: Raia Mwema, a leading Swahili-language weekly, was suspended for 30 days from Monday, for “repeatedly publishing false information and deliberate incitement” https://t.co/ZLMu0GYhaG pic.twitter.com/t5fWsSRIUH

— Jackson M’vunganyi (@UpfrontAfrica) September 6, 2021

Source: AFP