This archive report was first published on 23 May 2020.
Published on May 23, 2020, Tanzania's Attorney General has vowed to contest a High Court ruling that deemed a section of the country's Penal Code unconstitutional.
Principal state attorney Vicent Tangoh from the Solicitor General's office filed a notice with the High Court registrar to appeal the ruling in the Court of Appeal, citing the government's dissatisfaction with the decision.
On May 18, a panel of judges led by B.S Masoud, S.M Kulita, and J.L Masabo ruled that the section of the Criminal Procedure Act denying bail for serious crimes such as murder, treason, terrorism, money laundering, and illicit drugs trafficking violated articles 13(6)b and 15(2) of the country's Constitution.
The judges ordered the government to rectify the section within 18 months, warning that failure to do so would render the entire section automatically expunged from the Penal Code.
Private advocate Dickson Paulo Sanga had sued the government in May 2019, challenging the bail denial for persons charged under Section 148(5) of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Mr Sanga argued that the offending section took away the mandate of courts of law as provided under the Constitution, and that personal liberty and presumption of innocence are constitutional rights.
