THREE Tanzanian lawyers have taken legal action against the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the Director General for Tanzania Intelligence and Security Services (TISS) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for unlawfully detaining Mdude Nyagali, a critic of President Magufuli, demanding his immediate release or prosecution.
Mdude was hijacked by masked and armed police on Saturday evening from his office at Vwawa township, Mbozi District, Songwe district. For the last three days, during which his whereabouts were hard to trace, there has been a huge public pressure, mainly through social media.
Chadema, the opposition party to which Mdude is member, held a press conference on Tuesday calling for his immediate and unconditional release. Police have so far distanced themselves from the incident, but all circumstantial evidences lead to them being implicated.
Peter Kibatala, Hekima Mwasipu and Jebra Kambole, all advocates of the High Court of Tanzania filed Mdude Misc.Criminal Application No. 73 of 2019, which has been assigned to Justice Joaquine Demello for attention on May 9, 2019.
They want the court to order police and relevant government authorities to bring Mdude the court, or to release him from unlawful detention.
