Committee To Protect Journalists Says Tanzania and South Africa Lied About Detaining its Team

Muthoki Mumo and Angela Quintal 

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists expressed indignation at statements from Tanzanian authorities and South Africa's foreign minister justifying the detention of CPJ's Africa team in Dar es Salaam on November 7.

Officials from both countries falsely claimed CPJ's Africa program coordinator Angela Quintal and sub-Saharan Africa representative Muthoki Mumo were in Tanzania without proper visas when they were detained and interrogated, CPJ says. In fact, both were traveling on valid visas, as part of a fact-finding and networking trip to better understand local press freedom conditions, according to CPJ.

"Having debriefed with our Africa program coordinator Angela Quintal and sub-Saharan Africa representative Muthoki Mumo about their detention, we are outraged by their treatment at the hands of Tanzanian authorities," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "Both had valid visas, so we have concluded that the intention of Tanzanian authorities was to harass and intimidate our team. CPJ is also disappointed that, after all South Africa did to assist the team on the ground, its foreign minister would now repeat falsehoods about their detention."