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Maxence Melo
Maxence Melo
Born	Maxence Melo Mubyazi; 1976 (age 47–48); Tanzania
Occupation	Journalist
Employer	JamiiForums
Known for	Freedom of Press
Website	Twitter

Maxence Melo Mubyazi (Born in 1976)^[1] is Tanzanian Digital Innovator and Information Architect. He is currently serving as the Executive Director for JamiiForums, a non-Governmental Organization based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that promotes Civil and Digital Rights, Social Justice, Accountability, Democracy and Good Governance. He is enthusiastic, creative and passionate about promotion and protection of Freedom of Expression and Privacy.

Awards and recognition

Maxence has played an enormous role in revolutionizing digital story-telling in promotion of Transparency and Accountability in Tanzania. He is a recipient of various awards including the 2019 International Press Freedom Award by the CPJ International Press Freedom Award^[2] and the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award being awarded by the Committee to Protect Journalists.^[3] Online Freedom of Speech Champion in Tanzania 2018 by the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) and the Daudi Mwangosi Award (2019) by UTPC - for Promotion of Media Freedom in Tanzania.

Between Dec 2016 to Nov 2020, he appeared before the court 159 times on 3 charges over protection personal data of JamiiForums users in Tanzania.

His website hosts frank debates, mostly in Kiswahili, about topics that include graft in the public sector and government incompetence.

He and his website became famous in 2007 with a story about corruption in the Central Bank of Tanzania. Millions of dollars were missing from the bank. His website office was raided 2016 by Tanzanian security forces, he was detained 8 days for interrogation. Afterwards, he was charged with managing a domain not registered in Tanzania. 2017 Mubyazi had to appear in court 81 times.^[2]^[1] The cases restrict him from traveling beyond the city of Dar es Salaam.

After being awarded with the CPJ International Press Freedom Award the US Embassy in Tanzania explicitly congratulated him.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b "Tanzanian court starts trial of co-founders of whist website". Reuters. 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
^ ^a ^b "Maxence Melo Mubyazi, Tanzania - Awards". cpj.org. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (2019-11-21). "Shepard Smith, Former Fox News Anchor, Puts $500,000 Behind Free Press". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-22. The other honorees were Patrícia Campos Mello, a journalist at a Brazilian publication, Folha de S. Paulo; Neha Dixit, a freelance investigative journalist in India; two Nicaraguan broadcast journalists, Lucía Pineda Ubau and Miguel Mora, who were imprisoned for 172 days on false charges; and Maxence Melo Mubyazi, a journalist in Tanzania.
^ "U.S. Embassy Congratulates Maxence Melo on International Press Freedom Award". U.S. Embassy in Tanzania. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2020-05-22.