Tanzania drops murder charges against 24 Maasai leaders

Prosecutors in Tanzania have dropped murder charges against 24 Maasai pastoralists who were detained over the death of a police officer earlier this year, Qazet.az reports according to TheGuardian.

The officer died in June during protests against government plans to evict them from their ancestral land in Loliondo, in Ngorongoro District, to make way for a conservation and a luxury hunting reserve.

Last week, charges for trespassing were dropped against 62 Maasai involved in the protests.

The men’s lawyer, Paul Kisabo, said their detention was “politically motivated” and that there was “no legal justification” for it.

“The charges and detainment were a misuse of the public system,” he said, adding that the director of public prosecutions gave no explanation for the decision to drop the charges.