Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in Tanzania on recent prosecutions of members of that country’s political opposition under the provisions of that country's penal code criminalising speech deemed insulting to the president.

When I met the Tanzanian Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs on 11 October we discussed democracy and political space in Tanzania. On 2 November, following the arrest and detention of an opposition MP, the British High Commission in Dar es Salaam raised the case with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urging the Tanzanian authorities to follow due process. We have subsequently also raised the case with the Minister of Home Affairs. We will continue to raise publicly and privately our concerns with the Government of Tanzania on developments which threaten democratic values and the rights of all Tanzanians.