Amnesty International Report 1999 - Tanzania

TANZANIA

Eighteen prisoners of conscience, including three arrested during the year, were facing trial for treason on the island of Zanzibar, an offence that carries the death penalty. Scores of other opposition supporters in Zanzibar were imprisoned for short periods; some were possible prisoners of conscience. More than 300 demonstrators arrested on the mainland in the capital Dar es Salaam were held for several weeks and reportedly tortured. Conditions in some prisons were harsh. Several death sentences were imposed. There were no executions.

Tanzania was host to more than 300,000 refugees from the continuing crisis in the Great Lakes region, including new arrivals. Refugees included 5,500 Rwandans remaining after the forced repatriations of 1997, as well as at least 260,000 Burundians and 47,000 people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Throughout the year Commonwealth officials sought to mediate in the political crisis in Zanzibar between the government and ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Party of the Revolution, and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), which was boycotting the Zanzibar parliament in protest against allegedly rigged presidential elections in 1995.

In July the Tanzanian government instituted public and parliamentary consultations on constitutional reform. The Law Reform Commission was studying the Preventive Detention Act (not used for several years), the Corporal Punishment Ordinance, and laws restricting press freedom. However, press freedom continued to be restricted: two newspapers were banned on the mainland and two in Zanzibar, and several journalists were interrogated on account of articles critical of the government. The reform process, welcomed by human rights groups and non-governmental organizations, was resisted by the government in Zanzibar, which has a separate semi-autonomous constitution and legal system.

A bomb attack on the US embassy on 7 August killed 11 people and injured more than 70. Over 30 people were arrested, most of them foreign nationals of Middle Eastern origin. All but two, who were charged with murder, were released within a week.

Tanzania submitted its third periodic report in July to the UN Human Rights Committee on its observance of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Although the Committee raised questions, several human rights issues, particularly those concerning Zanzibar, were not addressed.

Three CUF members were arrested in Zanzibar: Hamad Rashid Mohamed, a member of the House of Representatives (Zanzibar's parliament) and former Tanzanian Deputy Finance Minister, who was arrested in January; and Zeina Juma Mohamed, a housewife, and Juma Duni Haji, a member of the House of Representatives and formerly CUF's candidate for the Tanzanian vice-presidency, both of whom were arrested in May. They were charged with treason along with the 15 other CUF members who had been arrested in 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). By the end of the year the prosecution had not demonstrated any evidence to substantiate the charge and the start of the trial was repeatedly delayed. All 18 were prisoners of conscience imprisoned for their peaceful opinions and non-violent political activity. Many of them fell ill because they were denied access to hospital or to treatment by medical doctors of their choice. One of the women prisoners, Zulekha Ahmed Mohamed, suffered a suspected femoral hernia, diabetes and high blood pressure, for which proper treatment was refused.

Scores of other CUF supporters were arrested by police or by CCM militias and held for days or for weeks. Others were imprisoned for months after unfair and politically motivated trials on fabricated criminal charges: they appeared to be prisoners of conscience.

Torture and ill-treatment by police were reported. On 12 February soldiers entered the Mwembechai mosque in Dar es Salaam and beat worshippers, accusing them of blaspheming against Christianity, spreading "Islamic fundamentalism" and preaching against the government. Demonstrations in the following two days led to attacks on government vehicles and the arrest of 320 people. Three people were shot dead by police. Those arrested, who included men, women and children, were reportedly beaten and otherwise tortured. Women were stripped naked in front of guards and prisoners of both sexes, and searched internally, purportedly for weapons. Many of those detained were held without charge for weeks before being released. Charges against most of the remaining 140 prisoners were withdrawn by the end of March. A further 15 people were arrested on 29 March during a demonstration at Mwembechai mosque. By May all those held in connection with these two incidents had been released without charge.

Harsh conditions in some prisons amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In Mbeya prison in western Tanzania, such conditions led to the deaths of 47 prisoners in the first half of the year.

Several people were sentenced to death for homicide. No figures were available for the total number of people sentenced to death. There were no executions.

Amnesty International delegates visited Tanzania in March to obtain information about the treatment and reasons for flight of refugees from Burundi. In November Amnesty International wrote to the government expressing concern about restrictive articles in the new Refugee Act passed by parliament, but not ratified by the President during the year, which were inconsistent with international standards for refugee protection. In May Amnesty International delegates visited the country to investigate conflicting accounts of the alleged deaths of gold-miners in Bulyankulu, western Tanzania, in 1996 (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998). Amnesty International's memorandum to the government in December recommended the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the incident.

Delegates also visited Zanzibar in June to investigate the trial and treatment of 18 CUF prisoners of conscience. Amnesty International appealed for their release.