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Amnesty International Report 2001

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Amnesty International Report 2001 Covering events from January - December 2000 TANZANIA United Republic of Tanzania Head of state: Benjamin Mkapa Head of government: Frederick Sumaye Capital: Dar es Salaam Population: 33.5million Official languages: Kiswahili, English Death penalty: retentionist 2000 treaty ratifications/signatures: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Scores of opposition political activists were arrested and ill-treated on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar in the context of elections which were widely seen as unfair. Eighteen opposition leaders and their supporters were released after more than two years in jail as prisoners of conscience. Background The much-debated Zanzibar constitutional reform agreement of 1999 between the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Party of the Revolution, and the main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), remained unimplemented. Elections were held in October, despite controversy over the independence of the electoral commission, particularly in Zanzibar. Political tension on Zanzibar between the CCM and the CUF escalated as the election drew near. International observers concluded that the poll was fairly conducted on the mainland, but not in Zanzibar. President Benjamin Mkapa was re-elected on the mainland and announced his wish to cooperate with the opposition. The CUF refused to accept the result in Zanzibar, where the electoral commission ordered a re-run in 16 of the 50 constituencies. The CCM presidential candidate, Amani Abeid Karume, won the second ballot on 5 November. This ballot, along with parliamentary sessions after the election, was boycotted by the opposition. At the end of the year, CUF and CCM leaders were negotiating through intermediaries. There was no progress on a promised Tanzanian human rights commission. Zanzibar Treason trial In January the trial of 18 CUF leaders and their supporters charged with treason was again adjourned. On 26 January, a new Zanzibar Attorney General was appointed. His predecessor reportedly stated that the CUF trial was a political issue and that the accused ''deserved to be hanged''. An appeal, lodged on the basis that Zanzibar did not have a legal right to bring charges of treason as it was not a sovereign state, was finally heard in August, but the court deferred judgment to await further information. The 18 remained in custody until 9 November when charges against them were dropped. The appeal court verdict confirmed that there was no legal basis for the charges. All were prisoners of conscience who had been held for at least two years, and many for more than three. Arrests and ill-treatment of CUF supporters The January adjournment in the treason trial provoked mass protests which were brutally broken up by armed police. Some 30 people were injured, including 14 police officers, and 40 arrested. A CUF rally planned for the following day was banned. Some 30 people were held in custody for several weeks; charges against them were still pending at the end of the year. Widespread arbitrary beatings of some 300 opposition party supporters and the arrest of more than 100 others followed an incident on 2 April when armed police, raiding a CUF office meeting, were disarmed and beaten by CUF guards. One CUF supporter reportedly died as a result of a police beating. Some were released without charge, others were released on bail. Twenty-one others, including CUF secretary general Seif Sharif Hamad, were later arrested, and charged with robbery with violence, but released on bail. Seif Sharif Hamad and his campaign manager also faced charges of taking part in an illegal demonstration for their campaigning activities in late September. There were further short-term arrests and beatings of prisoners and demonstrators in the run-up to the elections. On 11 October, six people were reportedly injured on Zanzibar when police opened fire to disperse CUF supporters at a campaign rally at their branch office. This appeared to be part of a continuing pattern of intimidation and harassment. On 30 October police in riot gear opened fire with live ammunition, tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators protesting against irregularities in the elections. Scores of people, including bystanders not involved in the protest, were reportedly injured, at least one seriously. Thirty-two people were arrested and charged with ''causing a breach of the peace''. Following the elections, there were reports of several explosions, one of which extensively damaged the Zanzibar Electoral Commission office in Pemba on 27 December, and numerous arrests and beatings. The authorities blamed the explosions on the opposition and more than 40 people connected with the opposition were detained; some were formally charged in relation to the explosions. The CUF claimed that the charges were fabricated. Freedom of expression and assembly ● In February, 10 suspected followers of Sheikh Issa Ponda, a Muslim leader in Mwanza, were charged with illegal assembly and inciting Muslims to revolt against the government, after they held a meeting to discuss the February 1998 Mwembechai riots in Dar es Salaam. They were released on bail a few days later, and had not been tried by the end of the year. ● In November Ally Saleh, a reporter for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and human rights activist, was arrested and falsely charged with kidnapping two women. He had persistently reported on the chaotic election period and human rights abuses in Zanzibar. He was released on bail after 12 hours in custody. Charges were later dropped. Refugees Implementation of the 1998 Refugees Act, under which all refugees from Burundi and Rwanda were required to go to refugee camps, began in February 2000. However, many refugees were not taken to refugee camps. By May, 80 Rwandese and 580 Burundian refugees who had settled in villages along the border region, some since the 1960s, were forcibly returned to their countries of origin and scores of others were detained awaiting possible refoulement. There were some allegations of ill-treatment. Families were separated and refugees given no chance to collect their possessions. In a separate case, two Rwandese refugees accused of helping the former speaker of the Rwandese National Assembly to flee Rwanda, were arrested in February shortly after their arrival in Tanzania and forcibly returned to Rwanda, although they were clearly under the protection of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Rwanda they were immediately taken into military custody and reportedly tortured before being released. Despite measures taken by the UNHCR and the Tanzanian government, many women and girl refugees in Tanzania faced sexual and domestic violence both inside and outside the camps. There were frequent reports of women being attacked and raped by local villagers when they left the camps to collect firewood. ● In one case dating back to 1999, 11 people charged with assaulting a group of Burundian refugee women and girls and raping at least 10, including one girl, were summarily acquitted in December because the prosecutor was late. In June 2000 this ruling was successfully appealed against and the case has been reopened. Nearly 200 Burundian refugees, including young children, were arrested during the year on suspicion of links with Burundian armed opposition groups. Most were returned to the camps but some remained in detention in harsh conditions on charges of illegally leaving the camps. There were further reports of recruitment from the camps by all Burundian armed opposition groups. Extradition In August Bernard Ntuyahaga, a former Rwandese army officer accused of murdering the Prime Minister and 10 Belgian peace-keepers in 1994, remained in prison while appealing against extradition to Rwanda. AI remained concerned that if extradited he could face an unfair trial and, if convicted, the death penalty. Other concerns Courts continued to pass death sentences, but for the sixth successive year no one was executed. Non-governmental organizations, including AI, continued to campaign against female genital mutilation, advocating both legal reform and greater popular awareness. Witchcraft killings There were further reported killings of elderly people, mostly women, suspected of witchcraft, particularly in the Shinyanga and Mwanza districts. In June, the Tanzania Media Women's Association launched a video to raise awareness about the issue and stated that over the past 10 years, thousands of people had been lynched by witch-hunting mobs. The government pledged to increase efforts to stem the killings. AI country reports ● Great Lakes Region: Refugees denied protection (AI Index: AFR 02/002/2000) ● Tanzania: A human rights brief for election observers (AI Index: AFR 56/013/2000).
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