Attacks on the Press in 2004 - Tanzania
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | February 2005 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press in 2004 - Tanzania, February 2005, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47c566f528.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
2004 Documented Cases – Tanzania
NOVEMBER 24, 2004
Posted: December 1, 2004
Dira
CENSORED
The popular weekly Dira, Zanzibar's only independent newspaper, remained shuttered after a court refused to reverse a one-year-old government ban.
The High Court on Tanzania's semi-autonomous island ruled November 24 that Dira had violated registration procedures, rebuffing an effort by the newspaper to overturn the ban.
The court said Dira's registration was invalid because it had not been processed by a government-appointed board-an entity the newspaper said did not exist at the time.
Dira Editor Ali Nabwa told CPJ the ruling was "absurd," but noted that the court may have left the door ajar for the newspaper to resume publication.
The court made no ruling on the Zanzibar government's claim that the newspaper violated media ethics, and it invited Dira to re-apply for a license. The court said the government should examine the newspaper's application in the spirit of good governance and the rule of law.
Nabwa told CPJ that the newspaper would re-apply for a license. If the government delays or refuses, he said, Dira would press its case with the Appeals Court based in mainland Tanzania.
On November 24, 2003, the Zanzibar government ordered the indefinite suspension of Dira, and four days later a complete ban. The government invoked a repressive 1988 law that empowers it to shutter a newspaper it deems a "threat to national security." Announcing the ban, then-Minister of State Salim Juma Osman said the step was essential for the preservation of peace and harmony, according to Dira's Ally Saleh, who is also the BBC correspondent on Zanzibar.
Nabwa told CPJ at that time that Dira had criticized the government for "malpractice, corruption and abuse of power" and had tackled sensitive subjects such as Zanzibar's union with Tanzania. Zanzibar joined a union with Tanganyika in 1964, forming the state of Tanzania.
This is the not the first difficulty that Dira has faced. On October 27, 2003, the Zanzibar High Court ordered the paper to pay US$660,000 in libel damages to the son and daughter of Zanzibar president Abeid Karume over articles alleging that they used family connections to buy state-owned businesses.
