tigate the beating of a Bukuku, Kidanka and civilians by Ukonga prison guards in Dar es salaam on September 10, 2005. * September 20, 2005: Home Affairs Minister Omar Ramadhani Mapuri has offered a public apology and retracted a September 16, 2005, statement in which he declared lawful the conduct of prison warders and prisoners accused of violating the human rights of a journalist and civilians. The minister, while retracting his earlier statement, argued that it had been misinterpreted by the media as approval of the conduct of prison wardens and prisoners who had severely beaten and injured a number of civilians and a journalist during the 10 September eviction of former tenants of the Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC). · ALERT Date: September 08, 2005 Persons/Institutions: HakiElimu Violation: Other Tanzania’s Ministry of Education and Culture has banned a non-governmental organisation (NGO), HakiElimu, from undertaking and publishing studies regarding Tanzania’s education system. The ban became effective on September 8, 2005. According to a circular dated September 8, and sent to all government departments, HakiElimu’s executive director has been accused of “disparaging the image of our education system and the teaching profession of our country through his media promotion of self-created caricatures masquerading as teachers and pupils and has repeatedly failed to conform with directives given to him by the Ministry of Education and Culture both in writing and verbally.” · ALERT Date: June 10, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Jabir Idrissa Violation: Censored Authorities on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island of Zanzibar have banned political columnist Jabir Idrissa from writing, saying he was working without permission. Idrissa believes he was banned for criticizing the Zanzibar government. The Zanzibar-based Idrissa is a well-known political columnist for the weekly, Swahili language newspaper Rai. The newspaper is based on the Tanzanian mainland, but sells on Zanzibar. Idrissa said he had been writing the column for about a year and that it had criticized the Zanzibar government for human rights abuses and bad governance. In a statement on June 09, 2005, Zanzibar’s information ministry said that Idrissa had been working illegally as a journalist on Zanzibar and that he was being barred from practicing journalism until he complied with the island’s regulations. Director of Information Ali Mwinyikai said that a 1988 Zanzibar law obliged all journalists working on the island to obtain press accreditation from his ministry, but that Idrissa had not done so. This accreditation must be renewed annually, he said. · ALERT Date: May 14, 2005 Persons/Institutions: Tanzania Daima newspaper, Tanzam Printers and Stationers Violation: Legislation The executive director of St. Mary’s Schools, Reverend Gertrude Lwakatare, has demanded an apology, retraction and compensation of one billion Tanzania shillings (approx. US$884,000) from M/s. Free Media Limited, publishers of the newspaper “Tanzania Daima”, and Tanzam So This Is Democracy? 2005 -125- Media Institute of Southern Africa