Death in Zanzibar
Sir: I went to Zanzibar fifty years ago to train Arab and African teachers. Aboud Jumbe, the present 'ruler of Zanzibar, was one of my African pupils in the 'thirties. He was a quiet, industrious youth and a keen Boy Scout.
When Aboud Jumbe succeeded the tyrant Karume this April I wrote to him pleading that he should release some of the Arabs who had been languishing in prison without trial for eight years. I reminded him that some of these unfortunate men has been his fellow students and brother Scouts in the old days of Colonial Office rule.
I have received a reply in excellent but evasive English. Regarding my plea for mercy he assures me that justice must take its course "lest any display of unwarranted mercy is taken as a sign of weakness."
It would appear from the description of the People's Court described in your Notebook paragraph entitled ' Death in Zanzibar' (August 26) that scant justice will be obtained by the sixty-three people brought to trial on charges arising out of the assassination of Karume.
It is interesting to note that both Vice-President Aboud Jumbe and President Nyerere were former school teachers.
L. W. Hollingsworth Flat 27, Mayfair, 74 Westcliff Road, Bournemouth
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