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It's official. Young Malang has been imprisoned for his actions. In a plea for leniency, the defense argued that the young activist was not one of the more radical members of Parliament and was feeling politically powerless due to President Jakaya Kikwete's term limit looming over his head. In his ruling, Judge Graeme Morland noted that none of Malang's colleagues attempted to stop him from smashing glasses and throwing ink on a painting depicting Tanzania as a leader in Africa. The judge described this as "an insult" to all Tanzanians and said it showed malice intent indicating he lacked remorse for his actions which he terms 'self-destructive'. Furthermore, Malang was described as being "a man without a voice" after he failed to attend a meeting with former Presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete and other high ranking officials in July 2011. Judge Morland cited the lack of remorse and failure to atone for his actions as evidence that Malang's sentence should be harsh so others would not follow suit. As a result, the judge sentenced the young politician to 15 years in prison for four charges including inciting violence, destruction of property and insulting the president. In addition he will be required to pay 100 million shillings in compensation. The prosecution had initially demanded 20 years for Malang, however, Judge Graeme Morland reduced the sentence because of the "seriousness of the offenses" and his age. Despite this, International human rights group Amnesty International has described this as "a shocking attack on freedom of expression." Despite his sentencing, Malang has vowed to continue to fight for what he believes is right. He will be appealing his sentence which he says was unfair and biased against him because he is seen as anti-establishment due to his history of speaking out against corrupt politicians. "I'd like to inform the whole of Tanzania and the rest of the world that I do not regret anything. If I had a chance to re-do what I did, I would repeat it. The only thing that would stop me and my colleagues is if we stop working for the people and we start working for ourselves." – Young Malang A leading human rights group has condemned the government for its recent crackdowns on freedom of speech stating that they believe this "smacks of a regime in terminal decline." ARTICLE END *Note: This article was published April 7, 2013. It has been over a year now since Malang was imprisoned. There has been no new developments in the case since then.The Justice Policy Center at the University of Minnesota Law School hosted a conference in April 2015 entitled "The Looting Machine: Using International Law to Combat Enrichment in Africa." During the conference, there was a panel discussion on corruption in Tanzania, which included several experts from around the continent. One of these experts was an ex-political prisoner who served time with Mr. Malang. This expert spoke about how difficult life is in prison in Tanzania and how Malang will likely be worse off when he is finally released due to his age. This pessimism may prove accurate as Mr. cfa1e77820
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