Anxiety in Z’bar as arraignment of Uamsho leader awaited

Field Force Unit members patrol Zanzibar on Saturday as the situation remains tense even after the reappearance of Islamic cleric Farid Hadi Ahmed who was alleged to have been kidnapped. 

Zanzibar. The leader of the Islamic Awakening Group (Uamsho) Sheikh Farid Hadi Ahmed and four others spent two days in police hands undergoing interrogation ahead of possible arraignment today to answer charges of incitement, authorities have said.

Zanzibar Police Commissioner Musa Ali Musa confirmed yesterday that Sheikh Ahmed and four colleagues were still being held for questing, adding that these would be taken to court today if the law keepers would be convinced there were a cause to do so. “We have not yet decided; we are still interrogating them,” Mr Musa told reporters.

Sheikh Ahmed was seized for questioning on Saturday when he resurfaced on Friday, having vanished for four days. 

Tension between the police and the sheikh’s supporters culminated into the death of a police officer on Wednesday evening. The police claimed the Uamsho members were behind the death.

The Uamsho group has been associated with violent clashes, threatening Christians and burning churches in Zanzibar this year. But at the weekend the situation was calm in Zanzibar town as police patrolled many areas.

A religious rally that was to be held at Mbuyuni Mosque, the Sheikh Ahmed’s stronghold, was cancelled as the organisers said they were waiting for the outcome of the interrogation of their leaders.

Meanwhile leaflets were dropped all over the Zanzibar town yesterday, urging Uamsho followers to assemble at the Vuga Court today, where their leader and his colleagues were likely to appear.

“We urge calm. You should assemble peacefully and each one must have in handy their identity card. You should avoid staying in small groups as that would give the police reason to strike you,” the leaflets seen by The Citizen read in part.

Other people who were questioned along with the cleric were Mr Mselem Ali Mselem, Mr Musa Juma, Mr Azan Khalid Amdan and Adam Bakari.

The five were seized for questioning on Saturday morning and have been held by the police since at the Madema police station at Michenzani in Zanzibar town.

The lawyer of the five, Salim Tawafiq, complained that he was barred by the police from being present having been invited by the same police to go to the station where his clients were being held.  

“I was not allowed to witness the interrogation despite the fact that I was at the station. This is against best practices,” he told Media in a telephone interview.

He told reporters who had gathered at his house, after news broke of his resurfacing, that he was handcuffed by State agents, blindfolded and taken to an unknown place where he was questioned about the unrest in Zanzibar, adding that he was also threatened.

Police have denied any involvement in the disappearance of Sheikh Ahmed, which has been at the centre of unrest in Zanzibar.

But Sheikh Farid claimed he was seized by armed men who introduced themselves as security officers, and who took him to an unknown destination before returning to where they had kidnapped him.  He added that he was released under the cover of darkness during a power blackout that hit most parts of Zanzibar.

“Four men who had their faces covered seized me on Tuesday. They were interested in getting information on our activities, my trips to Oman and Saudi Arabia…. They inquired about messages I received in my mobile phone and as we speak they have not returned my handsets,” Sheikh Farid told reporters on Friday.

“At one time they shot on the floor to scare me into telling them what they wanted to hear,” he added.

Sheikh Ahmed told reporters on Friday that his resolve to defend Zanzibar “at any cost” won’t be shaken “until Zanzibar becomes fully autonomous like it were back in 1963.”