This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
On December 9, 2019, Tanzania marked the 58th anniversary of Tanganyika's independence, a day that saw President John Magufuli show mercy to thousands of prisoners.
According to reports, Magufuli pardoned 5,533 prisoners, ordering their release from Tuesday. The move was part of the country's national celebrations, which took place at the CCM Kirumba Stadium.
Magufuli highlighted the congestion in the country's correction facilities, which held 35,803 people – 17,547 in prisoners and 18,256 in remand. He noted that many prisoners were serving jail terms for minor offences, including chicken theft and failure to pay fines.
“Most prisoners are serving jail terms over minor offences such as chicken theft, using abusive language against others, failure to hire good advocates and failure to pay fines,” President Magufuli said. “Therefore, I pardon a total of 5,533 prisoners.”
The pardoned inmates included those serving jail terms between one day and one year, as well as those sentenced to serve many years but had no more than one year left to complete their prison terms.
