Torture and sexual violence against activists in Tanzania: "They tied my hands and feet and beat me brutally."

“Four men forced me to strip naked and tied my hands and feet to a bar suspended in the air. Then they began brutally beating the soles of my feet with a wooden bar. The pain was so unbearable that I couldn't even cry.” Thus begins the account of the torture suffered by Kenyan human rights activist Boniface Mwangi during his arrest in Tanzania on May 18. He had gone to assist Tundu Lissu, leader of Tanzania 's main opposition party, CHADEMA, who was imprisoned on charges of publishing false information and treason.

Mwangi was in his room at the Serena Hotel in Dar es Salaam when men entered, blindfolded him, handcuffed him, and forced him into a car. “We’re going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget,” they told him. With trembling hands, the activist described the horrors he was subjected to in Tanzania during a press conference last week in Nairobi, along with Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, who was also attacked on the same trip. Locked in a room, men armed with AK-47s played loud music to drown out his cries of pain. “When they finished beating my feet, another man put lubricant on my rectum and continuously inserted multiple objects into my anus. Then they took me down from the bar and made me face the wall, and another man continued sexually assaulting me with his hands while forcing me to say, ‘Thank you, Mama Samia.’” After the assaults, they made him "crawl like a dog" to the bathroom, where he showered and changed his clothes. The torture, he explained, was videotaped, and they threatened to make the footage public if he spoke out. Amnesty International has supported his account and called for an investigation.

When they finished beating my feet, another man put lubricant in my rectum and inserted multiple objects into my anus.

Boniface Mwangi, Kenyan activist

Mwangi had traveled to Dar es Salaam to attend Lissu's appearance. Lissu testified in the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court on May 19, where he entered the courtroom with his fist raised and wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "No reforms, no elections." It was precisely this slogan that led the Tanzanian authorities to arrest Lissu on April 9 for calling on the population to take to the streets to demand electoral reforms in the upcoming elections on October 28. A few days after his arrest, CHADEMA was barred from participating in the general elections after refusing to comply with the electoral commission's requirement that he sign a code of conduct, as part of his campaign to promote reforms. Organizations such as Amnesty International have called for his immediate and unconditional release.

Atuhaire's ordeal was very similar to Mwangi's. When her partner was arrested on the night of May 18, he had time to warn her to collect her electronic devices and place them in a safe place. But the officers checked the hotel's security cameras and proceeded to arrest Atuhaire. "I was surprised by the complicity between the hotel staff and the authorities. They gave them access to our rooms, and to them, it seemed completely normal," she explains.

“They took us to an immigration office, where they held us for about five hours without telling us why. Then the lawyers told us we would be detained overnight,” she told the media. Atuhaire speaks through tears, still unable to understand the reasons for her arrest: “I haven't committed any crime. I know my rights; I haven't broken any laws.” She suffered the same torture as Mwangi: she was hung from the same bar and sexually assaulted with objects by Tanzanian officers. Both describe what happened as a nightmare, “a way to break us mentally and physically.”

I haven't committed any crime. I know my rights; I haven't broken any laws.

Agather Atuhaire, Ugandan activist

On the morning of May 22, that hell ended when both were transported in separate cars to the borders of their respective countries. Mwangi was thrown from a white Land Cruiser a few meters from the Horohoro border post in eastern Tanzania. Atuhaire was also abandoned near the Ugandan border at night and was later sent home to her family.

The Kenya Bar Association and the Police Reforms Task Force have called on the East African Community and the international community to demand that the Tanzanian government hold accountable the police officers and their officers responsible for the torture, assault, and sexual assault committed against the two activists.

Tanzania, a covert authoritarian regime

The same morning Mwangi and Atuhaire were arrested, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan appeared publicly, warning foreign activists not to interfere in her country's affairs. "The only country that remains stable, where people feel safe and enjoy peace, is ours. There have already been several attempts to disrupt that state of affairs, so I respectfully call on the security and defense institutions to act responsibly and not allow the entry of individuals who could jeopardize that order and well-being," the president stated.

Samia Suluhu Hassan came to power in 2021 after succeeding authoritarian John Magufuli, who died before leaving office . Her appointment was seen by the international community as a democratic opening, especially following the introduction of the 4R philosophy : reconciliation, resilience, reforms, and reconstruction, a program that became the spearhead of her administration.

However, for Jenerali Ulimwengu, a journalist, political analyst, and former member of the Tanzanian Parliament, it is clear that Magufuli's ghost continues to haunt the country's politics: "There are frequent kidnappings, reports of torture, and a widespread sense of insecurity, especially among those who criticize the government. I see these events as extremely worrying and disturbing, as they point to a certain criminal attitude within state structures, which now act with increasing impunity," he explains to EL PAÍS.

The wave of arbitrary arrests, abductions, and killings by the Hassan government in recent years has raised international concerns, highlighting the country's anti-democratic drift. In September of last year, Ali Mohamed Kibao, a member of the CHADEMA secretariat, was killed after several men forced him off the bus he was traveling on to the town of Tanga. His body was found the next day, tortured and with his face doused with acid. In October, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) suspended the online licenses of three media outlets for 30 days for publishing an animation featuring the president about the abductions. CHADEMA members Deusdedith Soka, Jacob Godwin Mlay, and Frank Mbise were also kidnapped in August, days after Soka gave an interview to The Chanzo. Their whereabouts remain unknown, and the list of those affected—Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a Tanzanian activist kidnapped in Kenya last year, and Father Charles Kitima, the secretary general of the Tanzanian Catholic Bishops' Conference who was brutally attacked in late April—continues.

“The apparent goal is to instill fear in the population to ensure Samia [Suluhu Hassan] has an easy path in the elections at the end of the year. But in the process, they are destroying the country,” Ulimwengu explains.

“We will not be silenced”

Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is Tanzania's ruling party and the longest-serving in all of Africa, since the country's independence from the United Kingdom in 1961. What was once the party of Julius Nyerere, the driving force behind the Ujama movement (African socialism), has become a repressive force against dissidents, opponents, and government critics. However, authoritarianism is spreading to more countries in the region, according to activists. "Leaders in countries like Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya are using repression and fear as a strategy to stay in power," explains Martha Karua, former Kenyan Minister of Justice who was deported while trying to enter Tanzania for Tundu Lissu's appearance.

Mwangi and Atuhaire share their outrage when speaking about their governments' inaction in the face of what happened to them: "We have felt abandoned." Just days after their release, Kenyan President William Ruto publicly apologized to Tanzania amid tensions between the two countries over the activists' arrest: "To our neighbors in Tanzania, if we have harmed you in any way, please forgive us."

Despite the torture and fear, both activists have decided to break their silence and take action. They announced their plans to sue Tanzania and named one: Faustine Jackson Mafwele, Assistant Commissioner of Police, a man facing numerous allegations that he is the main coordinator of extrajudicial killings, torture, and other serious human rights abuses. As Mwangi explained in a statement titled " We Will Not Be Silenced ," Mafwele is a member of the State Security Forces and was one of those responsible for her attack.

“Our bodies may be broken, but our spirits are stronger than ever,” Mwangi declared. Atuhaire called for responsibility as citizens to counter authoritarianism: “They are very comfortable with their impunity, but we have come to defend ourselves. The pain they have inflicted on us has not been in vain. We have brought down Tanzania’s peaceful facade.”