Tanzania air a video whose content would undermine the reputation of a popular local pastor. Staff refused to air the videos for which they were allegedly threatened to be arrested without due process of law. In April ITV reporter Kassim Sonyo was beaten and injured by a club owner after reporting on an incident where children were injured following a Disco Toto rampage in Handeni District on the eve of Eid ul Fitr. The club owner is said to be a former Permanent Secretary in one of the ministries of the Tanzania government. During the interview with MISA Tanzania investigators, Sonyo said he had decided not to take the matter further and press charges, but did not disclose his reasons for making this choice. During the same month, Mwananchi correspondent in Handeni District, Rajab Athumani got into trouble with authorities after breaking a story of people who died after they ate poisonous mushrooms. The authorities never wanted the story to get out because it would have revealed that there is hunger in the area, especially after president Magufuli had instructed all regional and district commissioners to make sure that hunger was a story of the past in their areas. Athumani was questioned by the police, had his work equipment including his mobile phone taken for several days and was instructed to delete any information concerning that story under supervision of the police. Masked men, suspected to be policemen armed with pistols, disrupted a press conference in Dar es Salaam in April, held by leaders of a faction of the Civic United Front (CUF) supporting the party secretary general, Maalim Seif Shariff Hamad. Journalists at the press conference were also assaulted. In a rather inexplicable incident two months later, 23 people, including 10 journalists, were arrested in Arusha. The journalists were covering a gathering where the Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of non-Governmental Schools and Colleges were presenting a donation of Tshs 18 million (USD 8100) to Lucky Vincent School. The donation was a gift to the bereaved families of the children who had died in a road accident. The arrested persons were later released with the explanation that they were wrongly arrested following the order of the Regional Commissioner for Arusha, Mrisho Gambo. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE Freedom of expression online was one of the major areas of controversy in 2017. Since the Cybercrimes Act became operational over two years ago, Section 16 of the Act which prohibits publication of false information, has been used as the main agent of arrests for online users. The Act prohibits citizens or agencies from obtaining computer data protected against unauthorised access without permission. It empowers police or law enforcement officers to storm the premises of a news agency and confiscate a computer system or device and computer data if law enforcement officials believe that such information can be used as evidence to prove that an offence has been committed. The police are equally given the right to search devices such as cell phones, laptops or computers if they believe these gadgets contain information that can be used as evidence to prove a crime has been committed. According to the CIVICUS Alliance report on the state of civil society: “On 15th November 2017, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar Es Salaam sentenced Bob Chacha Wangwe So This is Democracy? 2017 113