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- May 25, 2011
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JamiiForums founder Maxence Melo speaks out after arrest, as police target whistleblowing site in Tanzania
On December 13th, Tanzanian police arrested Maxence Melo, the founder of JamiiForums, a popular website in Tanzania where users post and discuss important political news. After holding him for 24 hours, officers searched Jamii Media’s offices and Melo’s house in Mbezi Beach, a suburb of Dar es Salaam.
The police claimed they were acting on complaints filed against Melo, however, did not disclose the nature of the complaints. Officers interrogated Melo’s employees and asked them for private information on the site’s users.
Melo and the employees refused to hand over any information, including the names of whistleblowers who had recently disclosed information through the website.
“[The reason] there are still whistleblowers on Jamiiforums is because they believe we can protect them,” said Melo. And he’s determined to keep it that way.
It is the latest crackdown on free speech by the administration of President Magafuli.
In July, the editor of daily newspaper Mwananchi was hauled in front of the security services. Previously, two people were arrested for comments made on social media.
Melo sat in jail for three days before being charged with three counts of obstruction, as well as for operating a website without the Tanzanian “dot-tz” domain name. Under Tanzanian law suspects are supposed to be charged within 24 hours.
#FreeMaxenceMelo
His arrest sparked an uprising on social media with the hashtag #FreeMaxenceMelo trending on Twitter across East Africa.
According to Neville Meena the secretary of the Tanzania Editors Forum Melo’s arrest is another troubling sign for press freedom. “The government is using different means to suppress the media in Tanzania,” said Meena.
This is not the first time Melo has spent time in jail. The 40 year-old has been interrogated by police 19 times since JamiiForums launched in 2006.
“All these times, all the police wanted to know is who’s behind JamiiForums,” said Melo. “Who is paying you, who is posting whatever information they are posting on JamiiForums and why don’t you release their data.”
The website is the most influential source of political news in the country. According to Melo it gets 600,000 visitors a day and has more than 4 million followers across its various social media platforms.
In 2008, documents released on its discussion board helped reveal a corrupt energy deal between the government and an American company, Richmond Development Company. Dubbed the Richmond Scandal, the information helped bring down the country’s then prime minister Edward Lowassa and caused the dissolution of his cabinet.
Melo said the goal of JamiiForums is to provide Tanzanians with a platform to engage in political discourse and a space that allows them to freely and sometimes anonymously disclose information important to the public.
“Whistleblowing is not a crime -- it is something there to help the nation,” said Melo. “I still believe that everyone should be aware of this and people should help whistleblowers -- [they] should protect them -- and everyone should express themselves freely.”
Cybercrimes Act ‘intimidates’ whistleblowers
JamiiForums has come under increasing scrutiny from the government. According to Melo, even before his arrest, police had questioned him several times in the last year.
Melo said police seemed to be focusing on very specific posts including ones that alleged widespread fraud within the country’s largest commercial bank CRDB.
In September 2015, Tanzania’s government passed the Cybercrimes Act. The law makes it illegal to write or publish “false, deceptive, misleading or in accurate” statements online. It also grants police the power to “issue an order to any person in possession of such data compelling him to disclose such data,” in the co
On December 13th, Tanzanian police arrested Maxence Melo, the founder of JamiiForums, a popular website in Tanzania where users post and discuss important political news. After holding him for 24 hours, officers searched Jamii Media’s offices and Melo’s house in Mbezi Beach, a suburb of Dar es Salaam.
The police claimed they were acting on complaints filed against Melo, however, did not disclose the nature of the complaints. Officers interrogated Melo’s employees and asked them for private information on the site’s users.
Melo and the employees refused to hand over any information, including the names of whistleblowers who had recently disclosed information through the website.
“[The reason] there are still whistleblowers on Jamiiforums is because they believe we can protect them,” said Melo. And he’s determined to keep it that way.
It is the latest crackdown on free speech by the administration of President Magafuli.
In July, the editor of daily newspaper Mwananchi was hauled in front of the security services. Previously, two people were arrested for comments made on social media.
Melo sat in jail for three days before being charged with three counts of obstruction, as well as for operating a website without the Tanzanian “dot-tz” domain name. Under Tanzanian law suspects are supposed to be charged within 24 hours.
#FreeMaxenceMelo
His arrest sparked an uprising on social media with the hashtag #FreeMaxenceMelo trending on Twitter across East Africa.
According to Neville Meena the secretary of the Tanzania Editors Forum Melo’s arrest is another troubling sign for press freedom. “The government is using different means to suppress the media in Tanzania,” said Meena.
This is not the first time Melo has spent time in jail. The 40 year-old has been interrogated by police 19 times since JamiiForums launched in 2006.
“All these times, all the police wanted to know is who’s behind JamiiForums,” said Melo. “Who is paying you, who is posting whatever information they are posting on JamiiForums and why don’t you release their data.”
The website is the most influential source of political news in the country. According to Melo it gets 600,000 visitors a day and has more than 4 million followers across its various social media platforms.
In 2008, documents released on its discussion board helped reveal a corrupt energy deal between the government and an American company, Richmond Development Company. Dubbed the Richmond Scandal, the information helped bring down the country’s then prime minister Edward Lowassa and caused the dissolution of his cabinet.
Melo said the goal of JamiiForums is to provide Tanzanians with a platform to engage in political discourse and a space that allows them to freely and sometimes anonymously disclose information important to the public.
“Whistleblowing is not a crime -- it is something there to help the nation,” said Melo. “I still believe that everyone should be aware of this and people should help whistleblowers -- [they] should protect them -- and everyone should express themselves freely.”
Cybercrimes Act ‘intimidates’ whistleblowers
JamiiForums has come under increasing scrutiny from the government. According to Melo, even before his arrest, police had questioned him several times in the last year.
Melo said police seemed to be focusing on very specific posts including ones that alleged widespread fraud within the country’s largest commercial bank CRDB.
In September 2015, Tanzania’s government passed the Cybercrimes Act. The law makes it illegal to write or publish “false, deceptive, misleading or in accurate” statements online. It also grants police the power to “issue an order to any person in possession of such data compelling him to disclose such data,” in the co
