Tue 27 July 2021:
Tanzanian court has accused the leader of the largest opposition party with terrorism-related offenses.
Last week, Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe and 15 other party members were imprisoned in a late-night crackdown that opponents said echoed the repressive rule of the country’s late leader.
State prosecutor Ester Martin said Mbowe had been charged with two counts of “economic sabotage”, crimes that do not allow for bail in Tanzania.
“These are terrorism financing and terrorism conspiracy,” she told reporters late Monday.
Chadema said Mbowe had been charged in Kisutu court with terrorism crimes without his family or lawyers present.
Last Wednesday, the party chairman and several Chadema officials were detained in Mwanza, a port city on Lake Victoria, ahead of a planned public assembly to demand constitutional reform.
Mbowe was transferred to a prison in Dar es Salaam where police said he was being held “for plotting terrorism acts including to kill government leaders”.
Laptops and other devices were seized during a search of his home in the city.
Mbowe’s family and attorneys were told he was being brought to the hospital for health tests, but instead he was “taken to the court discreetly” and accused without any of his legal representation present, according to Chadema.
The allegations were brought four months after Tanzania’s first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, took office following the death in March of John Magufuli, whose dictatorial administration was marked by regular crackdowns on the opposition.
Hassan had reached out to the opposition and promised to safeguard democracy and basic freedoms, raising hopes that Tanzania would be led away from her predecessor’s heavy-handed and uncompromising leadership.
