By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
DODOMA, Tanzania – A Tanzanian journalist was killed by police during an alleged political rally on September 2, 2012.
Daudi Mwangosi, a journalist for the local station Channel Ten and the Chairperson of the Iringa Press Club, was covering a gathering of members of the conservative opposition party Chadema cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) in Nyololo village when he was killed by police.
Law enforcement officers arrived on the scene to order the Chadema members to disband the assembly in compliance with the government’s ban on political rallies. Chadema supporters, however, denied that they were holding a rally. They argued that they were merely conducting an internal meeting.
As these two opposing forces clashed, Mwangosi, was trying to question Regional Police Commander Michael Kamuhanda. Other journalists reported that Kamuhanda was frustrated with Mwangosi’s persistent interrogation that he snapped at him asking, “why are you always not satisfied with the answers?”
A few minutes later, the police started to break up the crowd by force. Eyewitnesses report that the police assaulted and arrested both Chadema members and journalists. Some members of the crowd attempted to appease the law enforcement officers by sitting with their hands on their heads to show they were not a threat. Despite this, however, the police fired teargas into the crowd.
It was around this moment when Mwangosi saw a fellow reporter being harassed by a police officer for taking pictures of the commotion. He interfered to rescue his colleague, but as another journalist recalled, “police turned on him and started to beat him. Seeing that his life is in danger Mwangosi started to struggle, apparently seeking to disentangle himself from the grips of the law enforcers. One unidentified police officer fired a teargas canister at Mwangosi, ripping off his stomach and injuring another policeman who was standing nearby. After seeing Mwangosi’s dismembered body, people started to scamper for their lives.”
Media groups in Tanzania report the death of Mwangosi, a father of four, as the first work-related fatality for a journalist in the country since it began keeping detailed records in 1992. The same groups have also pleaded with the government to “immediately lift the indefinite ban on rallies and demonstrations” so as to uphold its Constitution and international human rights obligations.
Meanwhile, organizations such as the Tanzania Constitution Forum called for the resignation of Commander Kamuhanda. Deus Kibamba, the Forum’s Chairman, said at a press conference that “there will be no fair and free investigations if the involved people are left in office.”
For further information, please see:
IPPmedia – Fire all police officers involved-Press clubs – 7 September 2012
The Citizen – Suspend officers in Mwangosi killing case, minister urged – 6 September 2012
AllAfrica – Tanzania: The Shocking Death of a Journalist Tests Democracy – 6 September 2012
AllAfrica – Tanzanian Journalist Killed in Political Rally – 5 September 2012
