CPJ staffers leave Tanzania

The travel documents of former Mail & Guardian editor Angela Quintal and a Kenyan colleague Muthoki Mumo were returned yesterday and they have left the country, Legalbrief can confirm. The pair was detained on Wednesday night by Tanzanian authorities and released in the early hours of Thursday morning. A report on the News24 site notes that the reasons for their detention are unclear. 'Following meetings with the Tanzanian authorities, the High Commissioner has indicated that the two journalists are now free to leave Tanzania,' SA's Department of International Relations and Co-operation said in a statement. Quintal is Africa programme co-ordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Mumo is CPJ's sub-Saharan Africa representative. The South African National Editors' Forum said it was 'deeply disturbed' by the incident. A Mail & Guardian Online report notes that media freedom has come under attack in Tanzania under the administration of President John Magufuli. The International Press Institute in August said press freedom in Tanzania has drifted into an unprecedented crisis under Magufuli’s regime. According to the Tanzania Editors Forum, at least five newspapers and two radio stations have been suspended for periods ranging from three to 36 months on pretexts including ‘false information’, ‘sedition’ and ‘threatening national security’.