SA human rights lawyer ‘held hostage’ in Tanzania

ACCLAIMED South African human rights lawyer Sibongile Ndashe said she and 11 others were “held hostage” by Tanzanian officials following their arrest in that country.

Ndashe told journalists the narrative that she and fellow human rights activists went to Tanzania to violate the country’s laws must be challenged.

She and another South African were among a group of 12 people “unlawfully arrested” for what that country’s government has termed “promoting homosexuality”. They were never charged with any crime. Ndashe and her colleague were deported from Tanzania at the weekend following their release from prison in Dar es Salaam.

They were arrested while preparing for a case to challenge the government’s decision over drop-in centres that serve people particularly at risk of contracting HIV. Ndashe said they had been informed that they were under police surveillance prior to their arrest.

“We have been working in Tanzania for the past three years. This is work that started to find ways of holding the state accountable for various human rights violations.

“Everyone who was involved knew that what had happened was unlawful and that our detention was illegal, in fact, we were held hostage at a police station. No one could say why we were there. The South African authorities kept on trying to get information from their counterparts. The Tanzanian officials constantly failed to provide them with information.”

She said the work they were doing was legitimate under the Tanzanian constitution.

“We have been deported from Tanzania. It’s now physically impossible to continue acts of solidarity in the country by being there. Our partners are still under investigation.”