Tanzania, Aug. 15 -- Arusha. The Court of Appeal has freed two men who had been serving life sentences for burning down a church in Bukoba after finding serious flaws in the evidence used to convict them.

Rashid Mzee and Allyu Dauda were sentenced by the High Court's Bukoba Registry on August 13, 2020, after being convicted of conspiracy, arson and malicious damage to property.

The Court of Appeal, in a ruling delivered on August 14, 2026, found that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

The case arose from a fire on the morning of October 30, 2015, at Bujugo village in Bukoba District, where a Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) church, built with reeds and roofed with corrugated iron sheets, was comple...