Dar es Salaam – The High Court has quashed an arrest warrant and directives to extradite online activist Edger Edson Mwakabela, widely known as Sativa, after finding that the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court acted without a filed criminal case, lacked jurisdiction to issue the extradition directions, and relied on a defective affidavit.
In a September 29 judgment that The Chanzo has seen, Justice Dafina Ndumbaro allowed Mwakabela’s appeal against the November 28, 2025 order. The Court quashed the entire miscellaneous application, set aside the ruling and declared the warrant and extradition directives “null, void, and of no legal effect.”
The decision concerns the lawfulness of the process used to seek Mwakabela’s arrest, not whether he committed the alleged offence. The Court did not determine the truth or falsity of any online publication attributed to him, and it did not decide criminal responsibility under the Cybercrimes Act.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had applied ex parte at Kisutu for an arrest warrant and directions to use all mechanisms to extradite Mwakabela from Kenya. The application was supported by an affidavit from Assistant Commissioner of Police Wilson Mlowola, and attached a draft charge sheet alleging publication of false information under Section 16 of the Cybercrimes Act.
Section 16 criminalises knowingly publishing false, deceptive, misleading or inaccurate information through a computer system with an intention to defame, threaten, abuse, insult, deceive or mislead the public, or counsel an offence. A conviction can carry a fine of at least Sh5 million, imprisonment of at least three years, or both.
READ MORE: A 27-Year-Old Man Who Went Missing Found Tortured Following a Viral Campaign #WhereIsSativa
But Judge Ndumbaro found that the charge sheet had been attached to the application without ever being formally filed or registered as a criminal case. The judge said an arrest warrant under Section 14(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act should bring a person before a court to answer an information or charge that has been brought against them.
“That warrant ought to be issued upon the existence of a filed charge or information,” the judge wrote. She held that the magistrate had not independently evaluated whether the statutory basis for a warrant existed and that the affidavit did not establish a pending criminal case for Mwakabela to answer.
The High Court rejected the State’s preliminary objection that the appeal was barred because the warrant was merely an interlocutory order. Ndumbaro held that there was no pending criminal case and that the Kisutu application had been finally determined when the court issued the order, making the appeal competent.
The Court did not, however, uphold all of Mwakabela’s grounds. It found no merit in his argument that the ex parte procedure itself violated his right to be heard, reasoning that a chamber application supported by an affidavit could properly proceed ex parte.
Defects
Judge Ndumbaro also held that the magistrate had exceeded the court’s powers by directing that all mechanisms be used to extradite Mwakabela from Kenya. She said a Tanzanian magistrate could not order foreign police or courts to execute a local warrant, because enforcement abroad requires action under the foreign state’s own law.
The Extradition Act sets out a process in which a magistrate conducts an inquiry and, if the legal test is met, commits a fugitive to prison pending a ministerial surrender warrant. The judge said the Kisutu court lacked jurisdiction under that law to issue the surrender-type directives in this case.
A separate defect concerned the affidavit used to support the application. The jurat, the part recording where and when an oath was administered, left the date blank, despite the legal requirement that the place and date be stated.
The judge held that the omission was incurable, rejecting the State’s argument that the date in the affidavit’s verification clause was enough. She also noted internal errors, including a reference to a non-existent paragraph 10 in a nine-paragraph affidavit and an investigation-report date that preceded the alleged offence by about a year.
Who is Sativa?
Edgar Edson Mwakabela, known online as Sativa, is a Tanzanian social-media activist. He became nationally known after disappearing from Dar es Salaam on June 23, 2024, prompting the #WhereIsSativa campaign. Four days later, he was found injured in Katavi National Park.
Mwakabela says people linked to the police abducted, tortured and shot him, and held him at police stations in Dar es Salaam and Arusha. Dar es Salaam Zonal Police Commander Jumanne Muliro said in October 2024 that there might be “distortion of facts” in his account and that the matter was under investigation.
In December 2024, Mwakabela left Tanzania fearing for his life. The September 2026 High Court ruling records the State’s assertion that he was in Kenya when it sought the arrest warrant and extradition directions; it does not determine his immigration status or grant him refugee status.
In February 2026, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba acknowledged an abduction problem and ordered protection for people reporting threats, but did not resolve Mwakabela’s case.
