Tanzania: Demonstrators Renounce Sheikh Ponda

THE 54 accused charged with illegal assembly distanced themselves from Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda, claiming that they were linked with crimes and arrested simply because some have beards and had put on Muslim skull caps.

The accused opted to take this stance when their trial took off at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam after the prosecution concluded reading a memorandum of facts and thereafter called one witness, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ahmed Msangi, to give testimony against them.

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