{"id":369,"date":"2024-07-09T10:18:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T10:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=369"},"modified":"2024-07-09T10:18:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T10:18:05","slug":"tanzanian-artist-jailed-for-insulting-president-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"Tanzanian artist jailed for insulting president freed"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A young Tanzanian portrait artist who was convicted last week of cybercrimes has been released from prison after social media users raised more than $2,000 (\u00a31,600) to pay his fine. <\/p>\n

Shadrack Chaula was ordered by a court to pay the fine or face two years in prison after he admitted recording a video that went viral on social media, showing him burning a picture of President Samia Suluhu Hassan while insulting her.<\/p>\n

“Thank you very much fellow Tanzanians for coming to my rescue,” Mr Chaula told journalists shortly after his release on Monday. <\/p>\n

The case sparked an uproar in the country, with some lawyers saying the 24-year-old painter did not break any law by burning the picture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Police said they arrested him for using “strong words” against President Samia in the TikTok video he recorded in Ntokela village near the south-western city of Mbeya.<\/p>\n

When he appeared in court last Thursday, Mr Chaula was charged with spreading false information about the president, contravening the country’s cybercrime laws.<\/p>\n

The court ruled that his actions constituted cyber-harassment and incitement.<\/p>\n

Mr Chaula admitted committing the crime. <\/p>\n

Critics said the sentence was too harsh but the prosecution had pushed for a more severe penalty, saying this was necessary to deter others from “disrespecting” the president.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Tanzania enacted tough laws against the spread of “fake news”, which critics saw as a move to curb freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Users of X, formerly Twitter, raised $2,100 in six hours, according to activist Godlisten Malisa, who coordinated the fund-raising.<\/p>\n

Mr Chaula was given the remaining $100 to support his artwork, he said. <\/p>\n

In an Instagram post, Mr Malisa added that the contributions were a “lesson” for the government.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that many Tanzanians were “burdened” by the high cost of living, they came to Mr Chaula’s aid, he said.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Peter Kibatala said social media users did not only secure Mr Chaula’s release but also freedom of expression. <\/p>\n

After she came to power in 2021, President Samia introduced reforms to give political parties and civic groups more freedom. <\/p>\n

But opposition and rights groups have expressed concern that the government is sliding back to more repressive ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young Tanzanian portrait artist who was convicted last week of cybercrimes has been released from prison after social media users raised more than $2,000 (\u00a31,600) to pay his fine.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[607,610,609,608,506,606],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nTanzanian artist jailed for insulting president freed - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Activists lead social media users to raise $2,000 needed for the artist's fine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=369\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tanzanian artist jailed for insulting president freed - 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