Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi has shared harrowing details of his detention in Tanzania, days after he was released following a four-day disappearance that raised uproar across the region.
Mwangi had travelled to Dar es Salaam on Monday, May 19, to observe the treason trial of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
However, he was picked up by suspected military officers and went missing until his release on Thursday, May 22.
He was detained alongside fellow Ugandan human rights defender and lawyer Agather Atuhaire, whose whereabouts also remained unknown until Friday morning.
Following his release, Mwangi took to social media to describe the ordeal both he and Atuhaire suffered.
“Agather is still missing in Tanzania. We had been tortured, and we were told to strip naked and go bathe,” he stated.
Recounting that the last time he heard Agather’s voice was on Tuesday morning during a brutal torture session, Mwangi added, “We couldn’t walk and were told to crawl and go wash off the blood. We were handcuffed and blindfolded, so I didn’t even see her, but I heard her groaning in pain as they barked orders at us.”
Also Read: Ugandan Activist Agather Found
Boniface Mwangi narrates Tanzania detaention ordeal
According to the activist, they were held incommunicado in an undisclosed location, subjected to torture, and denied legal access.
He said that any attempt to speak to each other during the night they were tortured was met with kicks and insults, adding that the torture was overseen by a man identified to him as a state security agent with direct ties to the Presidency.
“One of the lawyers said he is state security and reports directly to President Suluhu,” Mwangi revealed.
He described the man as overweight, with a potbelly, short wavy hair, and light brown skin.
The said man had allegedly confronted Mwangi and his legal team at the Central Police Station and later ordered the activists to be moved to a secret location for what he called “Tanzanian treatment.”
Mwangi revealed the harrowing experience after he had earlier on Thursday promised to speak out about what had transpired during his detention.
In a strongly worded statement, he accused Tanzanian authorities of trying to intimidate him and silence dissent through fear.
The activist directly implicated President Samia Suluhu Hassan in the ordeal, saying all actions taken against him and Atuhaire were done in her name.
“We went through the worst form of torture and were threatened with public humiliation if we revealed what they did to us. You cannot torture us, however, and then dictate how we should react,” he stated.
“Everything that happened to us in Tanzania was done in Samia Suluhu’s name, and we will ensure the world gets to know. We shall speak for the Tanzanian victims who are too afraid to speak. What Suluhu did to us will be revealed to the world.”
“We will not be silenced”
Mwangi’s whereabouts remained unknown until Thursday, when he was deported from Tanzania by road and abandoned near Ukunda in Kwale County.
Also Read: Agather Atuhaire: Uganda’s Fearless Activist Who Was Detained in Tanzania
The activist while addressing journalists at Wilson Airport shortly after arriving from Mombasa claimed that he and Agather were detained, tortured, and filmed by Tanzanian police during their stay in the country.
He also described being blindfolded and transported in the early hours to the Horohoro border, where he said he was dropped off and handed 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (approximately Ksh400).
“There was a boda boda rider waiting for me. They told me to lie down after dropping me at the border, and the rider then drove me to the Kenya-Tanzania crossing,” Mwangi recounted.
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