The man who was facing charges of belittling President John Magufuli through online chat, in which he allegedly insulted the head of state, has been subjected to pay a fine of 7 million/- or be sent to jail for three years.
Resident Magistrate, Augustine Rwizile, ordered the accused, Isaac Habakuki Emire, to pay the penalty in two instalments of 3.5m/- each, with the entire sum to be settled before August 8, this year.
“The first payment should be settled on July 8 and the second one must be completed a month later. However, due to the fact that August 8 is going to be a public holiday, the money can also be submitted on August 9 but not later than that,” ruled the resident magistrate.
Habakuki who was debating online via group chats with mates, about the issue of President Magufuli’s performance in comparison to the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, found himself being dragged before the court of law for allegedly speaking foul and belittling the head of state.
Emire initially defended himself before Resident Magistrate Rwizile, arguing that he was in the midst of an innocent online debate through Facebook Messenger with mates and he didn’t insult President Magufuli as claimed, adding that the matter was being overblown out of proportion for no good reason.
Emire a resident of Olasiti area, in the outskirts of Arusha City, is alleged to have irked some people during the media conversation prompting some to report the matter before the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), according to the TCRA Zonal Manager, Annette Matindi, who filed the case.
Earlier on, the Arusha Regional Police Commander (RPC), Charles Mkumbo, explained here that after the night chat session, the suspect was arrested at the Annex Hotel area, in Levels and was found with a Tecno smartphone believed to have been used during the online discussion.
Representing TCRA, Advocate Johannes Kalungula quoted section 16 of the Cybercrime Act 14 of 2015 which Emire allegedly breached, saying that was the law under which the authority has accused the suspect.
Apparently, it all started with President Magufuli’s decision to phone in into one of the local Radio Stations (Clouds FM), speaking live to its audience, upon which the online debate was initiated by people who wanted to get opinion regarding the head of state’s performance, compared to the first president of Tanzania, the late Nyerere.
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