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Police storm Mwanahalisi
2008-07-19 09:26:02
By Gadiosa Lamtey
Detective police yesterday stormed into the offices of Mwanahalisi newspaper in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam, and took away a computer used by the paper`s managing editor.
Mwanahalisi newspaper managing editor, Saed Kubenea said the four detective police officers claimed they were looking for documents connected to a suspect they named as Peter Msaki, whom they said worked with the paper.
Kubenea, however, said he knew nobody by the name of Peter Msaki and the plain-clothed policemen did not tell him what offence had the so-called Msaki committed.
``Since they are the agents of the state and because they had a search warrant, we allowed them to conduct their search but to our surprise, they did not allow photographers who were also doing their job to take pictures of the incident,`` he said.
He said after a thorough search, the police seized his computer and took him to his home, where they claimed there were other things they were looking for.
Kubenea said he called his lawyer to witness the incident and verify if the search warrant was genuine.
When contacted for comments, Kinondoni regional police commander Mark Karunguyeye said he was not aware of the incident.
Some few months ago, Mwanahalisi editor Saed Kubenea and consulting editor Ndimara Tegambwage were attacked by a group of people, leading to injuries. The case is being heard in court.
As we went to press, the Editors` Forum issued a strong condemnation of the police action. Forum chairperson Sakina Datoo said the media has been in the forefront of fighting the war against grand corruption because of prevailing press freedom.
``We shall fight to ensure that this freedom is not threatened in any manner,`` she said.
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