Africa-Press – Tanzania. ZANZIBAR’s special court for sexual offences has reduced the trial period for sexual related cases from three to one year, Acting Chief Justice (CJ) Khamis Ramadhan Abdalla said on Saturday.
The CJ said the judiciary has assigned 10 magistrates to the special division, challenging the justice dispensers to play their critical role judiciously lest they infringe on other people’s rights.
President Hussein Mwinyi, addressing gender activists in Unguja early last January, ordered the creation of the “special court for sexual offences,” to intensify the crusade against woman and child abuses.
He accused the police, medics and judiciary of rampant corruption, describ- ing them as “an impediment to the fight.
“And, Justice Khamis said on Saturday sexual abuses in the country remain on the rise, imploring all wananchi to join hands against the perpetra- tors.
“Judges and magistrates alone will not succeed in the fight against sexual abus- es; we need the support of everybody,” CJ Khamis told a two-day refresher course on human rights for judges and magistrates in Unguja.
He said the judiciary has formed judges, magistrates and other judicial employees’ integrity committees, which check against the violation of people’s human rights, includ- ing the judges. “Judges and magistrates too are entitled to human rights, which must be maintained,” said the CJ.
Justice Khamis said public awareness in Zanzibar is esca- lating, reminding judges and magistrates to justly handle cases, which seek court interpretation of some constitution’s clauses.
He further ordered all employees in the judiciary to cleanse themselves against corruption grievances, saying: “Public complaints on corrup- tion in the judiciary are rife
…let us refrain from all kinds of bribes to win the public trust.” Zanzibar Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Salma Ali Khamis faulted the use of bucket toilets in prison cells— mitondoo, describing them as grave violation of human rights.
“The bucket toilets are a serious problem in our pris- ons; they violate human rights because everybody has the right to privacy during the calls of nature,” DPP Salma said, challenging all stakeholders to work together to address the problem.
Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) National Coordinator Onesmo Ole-Ngurumwa whose organisation hosted the training said Tanzanian prisons face many human rights related faults, asking all stakeholders to work together for better reformatory facilities.
He cited accommodation and sanitation as the most challenging issues that violate the rights of prisoners and inmates as human beings.
“Detention doesn’t rob ones of their basic rights as humans,” Mr Ole-Ngurumwa said. The coordinator under- scored the need for
all wananchi to use the judiciary as the most civilised approach to address social and economic discord in the community instead of opting for physical confrontation.
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