A Tanzanian court on Friday dropped terrorism charges against opposition leader Freeman Mbowe and ordered his immediate release, ending a case that his supporters had branded a politically-motivated bid to crush dissent.
Mbowe and his three co-defendants have been in jail for more than seven months.
The government of President Samia Suhulu Hassan had come under mounting pressure to drop the case, which had raised concerns about democracy and rule of law in the East African country.
‘Because the (prosecution) has submitted an intention to drop the case and the defence side has accepted it, the case is now removed from the court and I order the suspects to be released unconditionally,’ said judge Joachim Tiganga.
‘They should be released from jail immediately.’
The decision triggered jubilant scenes in court, according to a video posted on Twitter by Mbowe’s Chadema party, and was welcomed by the US ambassador to Tanzania.
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It was not immediately known if he had been freed from prison.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that Mbowe, Chairman of Chadema, was arrested in July along with a number of other senior party officials just hours before they were to hold a public forum to demand constitutional reforms in the East African country.
He and three others were charged with terrorism financing and conspiracy.
But state prosecutor Robert Kidando told the court Friday: “We have no intention to continue with the case.”
The 60-year-old Mbowe has accused police of torturing him during his time in custody.
Mbowe’s arrest had dimmed hopes that Hassan would turn the page on the autocratic rule of her predecessor John Magufuli, nicknamed the ‘Bulldozer’ for his uncompromising style and crackdown on dissent.
Chadema has accused Hassan’s government of meddling in the case and said the arrests reflected a deepening slide into ‘dictatorship’.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK