Staff Reporter – The Zimbabwe Daily
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Idris Sultan, the winner of the 2014 Big Brother Africa (BBA) Hotshots is facing a three months prison sentence for allegedly using an unregistered SIM card.
The 27 year old comedian was first arrested in May after he posted a video on the internet making fun of President John Magufuli.
Although he was released on a court bond of US$6 550 pending his trial, the reasons of his arrest remained unknown until yesterday when he was standing trial for using an unregistered SIM card and not for making fun of President Magufuli.
However, the former BBA winner denied the charges and the trial has since been moved to the 5th of next month following an argument brought in by the Prosecutor who cited that there were 15 witnesses that were going to testify as well as substantial evidence.
Nevertheless, Deprose Muchena, director for Amnesty International’s east and southern Africa region said the charges were politically motivated.
“These charges are politically motivated and must be immediately dropped. It is evident that the Tanzanian authorities do not have a case against Idris Sultan and are simply out to harass him.The court must throw out the trumped-up charges against him,” said Muchena.
