An independent Tanzanian newspaper has been suspended for
two years, a government spokesman said Tuesday, accusing the publication of
sedition and endangering national security.
The critical Mwanahalisi newspaper was shut after
publishing a letter on Monday from a reader containing “insults” against
President John Magufuli and his government, said spokesman Hassan Abbasi.
Abbasi said the paper had received several warnings. The daily
has been shuttered on several occasions in the past, for three months in 2008
and then three years between 2012 and 2015.
The offending letter said that Magufuli “claims to be a
patriot but questions the patriotism of anyone who opposes him. This is
hypocritical.”
Mocking Magufuli’s regular calls for people to pray for
him, the article asks if in fact, one should not rather pray for opposition
lawmaker Tundu Lissu who was shot and injured earlier this month.
His party CHADEMA has accused the government of being
involved in the attack.
Abbasi said the letter was the latest in a long line of
violations of “ethics, principles of the journalistic profession by the
publication of false, seditious articles that endanger national security”.
“Government is suspending printing and publication of the
Mwanahalisi newspaper for 24 months,” said Abbasi.
The ban comes just three months after the weekly Mawio
was suspended for two years for linking two former presidents to dubious mining
contracts.
Since his October election Magufuli has shut down
newspapers, banned opposition rallies, switched off live broadcasts of
parliamentary sessions and used a draconian “cyber crimes” law to jail critics.
His government is also increasingly targeting the gay
community.
“This suspension is absolutely excessive and is yet
another example of the repression that is being experienced by Tanzanian
media,” said Clea Kahn-Sriber of Reporters Without Borders.
