Four go on trial in Tanzania for gang rape

Tanzanian police said they have launched an investigation following a viral video of an alleged gang rape. [AFP]

Four men appeared in a Tanzanian court on Monday accused of carrying out a gang rape that sparked nationwide outrage after a video of the attack was put on social media, a prosecution official said.

The four, who were not identified, pleaded not guilty to gang rape and sodomising a young woman, assistant prosecutor Renatus Mkude told reporters after the hearing that was held behind closed doors in the capital Dodoma.

Mkude said the four-day trial would formally open on Tuesday and appealed for "calm" over what he acknowledged was a "unique" case.

Nationwide anger was raised after Boniface Jacob, a former mayor in a district of Dar es Salaam, said the rape had been filmed.

Without giving proof, he said the rapists were Tanzanian soldiers.

On Monday, the police apologised after a Dodoma regional police chief, Theopista Mallya, told a local newspaper that the victim was a sex worker and the attackers were just "ordinary drunks". Mallya has since been transferred, according to the police.

Rights groups expressed outrage at the comments which they said appeared to justify rape.