Tanzanian comedian in court after laughing at president

Tanzanian comedian Idris Sultan has appeared at a magistrate’s court this morning in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, eight days after he was arrested.

Sultan was expected to be charged with cybercrimes offences, tampering with evidence and using a Sim card registered in someone else’s name, a police spokesperson told the BBC on Monday.

But once in court, the charge sheet only mentioned the Sim card issue.

He was arrested on Tuesday last week, after a video of him laughing at an old photograph of President John Magufuli wearing an oversized suit went viral on social media.

Police accused him of violating the Cybercrimes Act and bullying the president, according to his lawyer Bennedict Ishabakaki.

Many social media users have re-shared the video with the hashtag #FreeIdrisSultan and set his photo as their profile picture in a show of solidarity.

“We must promote and support artistic freedom and creation (innovation) as a part of participatory democracy,” tweeted digital rights advocate Maxence Melo.

Last year, Sultan was heldafter sharing a face-swapped image of himself and the president.

His detention has served as the latest reminder of digital regulation laws that rights activists have described as harsh and infringing on freedom of expression.

-BBC

Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

News

38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com