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Dozens of Muslims Still Held After Demo in Tanzania
DAR ES SALAAM, August 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - More than 170 Tanzanian Muslims were behind bars Saturday after being arrested Friday while protesting the jailing of a preacher convicted of "disparaging" Christianity, news agencies reported Sunday.
Dar es Salaam Regional Police Commander Alfred Tibaigana told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 145 men and 26 women were taken into custody during the demonstration.
He added that up to 40 Muslim demonstrators were injured when police - armed with tear gas, batons and water cannons - clashed with the protestors. Five policemen were also injured, he added.
A 30-year old demonstrator, among many others, was found badly beaten and lying unconscious.
Tibaigana said that the 170 Muslims in custody include people as young as 17 as well as an 80-year-old woman, AFP reported.
"We are screening them, and those found to be innocent will be released this (Saturday) evening while others are to be prosecuted immediately," he said. No news has been known yet of their release.
The Friday demonstration was declared illegal on Thursday.
Muslim groups had called for countrywide demonstrations to protest the conviction and 18-month jail term handed down on July 31 to Khamis Rajab Dibagula for allegedly disturbing the peace by uttering remarks alleged to be insulting to Christianity.
"Who said it is illegal to profess your religious conviction in public?" asked Maryam Jibril, secretary general of Al-Muballighat, one of the Islamic groups protesting.
"Where is the law saying it is crime for me to say that Jesus Christ is not God?" she added in a statement.
Muslims reject the divinity of Jesus, known in the Qur'an (the Muslim holy book) as 'Isa (PBUH), but believe that he was a prophet who received revelation from God and preached monotheism. Muslims afford Isa great respect and say they look at all prophets as equals.
Dibagula was accused in a magistrate's court in the central region of Morogoro of making public remarks, in March last year, deemed to be "provocative and blasphemous to Christians."
Muslims said the conviction was unfair and infringed on freedom of worship and the right to profess one's religious faith in public.
Al-Muballighat and other Muslim bodies called for more protest demonstrations countrywide on Friday. In Dar es Salaam, Muslims said they planned to march to the offices of Attorney General Andrew Chenge next week.
Mahita, a senior police officer, warned that any more planned demonstrations could spark violence and advised Muslim leaders instead to appeal Dibagula's conviction.
"Demonstrations will not help resolve the matter or get Dibagula out of prison," Mahita added.
Tanzania has been spared the internal strife over ethnic and religious grounds that has blighted many African states. However, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world - heavily reliant on foreign aid, with many of its people living below the World Bank poverty line.
Islam and Christianity are the two main religions in this African country of 32 million people.
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