PAJE, Tanzania — Christian university students on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim area off the coast of East Africa, have been denied the right to worship, while on another part of the isle a Christian leader has been jailed. Sources said Peter Masanja, an evangelist in Zanzibar’s southeastern town of Paje, was arrested by security agents sometime in early August.
Earlier this year Masanja, a member of the Pentecostal Church in Zanzibar, invited Christians to his house, as he had made part of his land available for church activities. Angry Muslims vowed to prohibit any Christian activities there, sources said. Pastors from Zanzibar sought to meet with prison authorities about Masanja’s arrest, but officials informed them that the person in charge of the prison was away on official business, said Bishop Obeid Fabian, chairman of an association of congregations known as the Fraternal Churches.
At Zanzibar University, a private school in Tunguu 12 miles from Zanzibar Town, Islamic administrators have denied Christian students freedom of worship while retaining that constitutional right for Muslims, said Samson Zuberi, Christian Union students coordinator. Three student Christian Union leaders have protested to school officials and threatened to go to court over the discrimination, he said.
In an April 12 circular, university Dean of Students Mavua H. Mussa warned those defying worship regulations to seek other learning institutions, saying that the ban on religious activities in lecture theaters, halls of residence or anywhere else on campus was absolute. Students said the ban violates the Zanzibar constitution’s provisions for freedom of association.
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