A former winner of Big Brother Africa, 2014 edition, Idris Sultan has reportedly been arrested for laughing at a throwback photo of President of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli in a short video he shared online.

Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, his lawyer Benedict Ishabakaki said that he was accused of contravening the Cybercrimes Act 2015 against cyberbullying.
The law states:

“A person shall not initiate or send any electronic communication using a computer system to another person with intent to coerce, intimidate, harass or cause emotional damage.”

Ishabakaki said they are now awaiting the arraignment of Idris who has been in police custody for two days and accused of using the internet to harass the President

Ishabakaki said;

“They have not told him till now if he has broken any clause … but their questioning behavior is related to the video. We hope he can be released on bail today. In short, the police claim Idris used the internet to harass the president.”

This is however not the first time he has been arrested.

In October 2019, he was arrested for photo-shopping President John Pombe Magufuli. While summoning Idris, Dar es Salaam Regional Commander Paul Makonda claimed the comedian didn’t know the boundaries of his work.