Acid attack victims Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup. A senior politician has claimed the attackers have been arrested and charged but Zanzibar police say no arrests have been made. Photos: Facebook
As far as police in Zanzibar are concerned, no one has been arrested or charged in relation to the attack on two British teenagers despite claims to the contrary by a senior politician.
“As far as Zanzibar is concerned, no arrests have been made,” says Zanzibar’s deputy director of criminal investigations Salum Msangi.
In 2013 two volunteers — Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup — were attacked with acid by two men on a motorcycle while in Stone Town.
Abdulrahman Kinana, the secretary general for ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), made the claim of arrests and charges last week in an opinion piece published by The Hill, a US political website.
“Tanzanian authorities later arrested for the crime members of Uamsho or ‘Awakening,’ an Islamic terrorist group with known links to Boko Haram. They have now been charged in court,” says Kinana, a former speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly.
Kinana’s claims of arrests and charges have been widely published in international media in recent days but the father of one of the victims says they have not been notified of the developments by authorities.
“We have not been contacted or spoken to,” says Mark Trup, speaking to the Evening Standard newspaper.
“I suspect it’s just nonsense or maybe something political.”
