DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Two Christian evangelists in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were arrested after Muslims invited them to debate religion but instead called in security agents who charged the evangelists with illegal preaching.
Anglicans Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga, released on bail and facing a hearing Feb. 11, said Christian and Muslim groups organized the interfaith debate that was planned for a neutral venue in October 2009 in the Kariakoo area of Dar es Salaam. Kobelo said no Muslims showed up at the debate until Islamists arrived with government security agents who charged them with “using religious sermons to incite Muslims and Christians into viewing each other with suspicion.”
At press time, charges of unlawful assembly had been brought against the two evangelists and seven other Christians, but it was not clear if the original charges of inciting religious suspicions were still in place.
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