3 August 2012
Article 19, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Committee to Protect Journalists, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Legal and Human Rights Centre, Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition and the Media Institute of Southern Africa-Tanzania, are concerned about reports that, on Monday 30 July, the government of Tanzania indefinitely banned MwanaHalisi, a weekly Kiswahili newspaper.
At a news conference on Monday, the acting Director of the Information, Youth, Sports and Culture Ministry reportedly accused MwanaHalisi of publishing seditious material, and has used the powers under The Newspapers Act (1976) to ban the newspaper. The Newspapers Act grants the Minister of Information broad powers to prohibit publication of newspapers for the sake of the public interest, peace and good order. This law creates offences such as sedition intention, seditious offences and false news, which are often invoked against media houses.