The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern for the safety of investigative reporter Erick Kabendera after he was forcefully removed from his home on Monday.
In a statement to APA, the CPJ called on Tanzanian police to disclose whether they have him in their custody.
Kabendera’s wife, who was quoted by the local press as saying that about six people claiming to be police whisked her husband away from their home in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
According to her, the men said they were taking the journalist to the Oysterbay police station, but they did not wear uniforms and refused to identify themselves when challenged.
She said the men also took away phones belonging to Kabendera, his wife, and neighbors who recorded and took pictures of the incident.
It is not clear whether his arrest is in connection with his work as a journalist.
When colleagues and a lawyer from the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition went to the police station to check on the journalist, Kabendera was not there, according to Watetezi TV, a news outlet associated with the coalition, and Ansbert Ngurumo, a Tanzanian journalist who runs the news blog Sauti Kubwa from exile, and who is following the case.
“The manner in which this journalist was taken, by men claiming to be police, is very ominous and further evidence that the press is not safe in President John Magufuli’s Tanzania,” said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities must immediately disclose if they are holding Erick Kabendera, and for what reason, and ensure the journalist is returned safely to his family.”
WN/as/APA