Star Metro - Kenyan rights campaigner speaks of Tanzania sexual torture

Award-winning Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, who was with Mwangi when they were both abducted in Tanzania on May 19, had previously made similar allegations to AFP.

The opposition and rights groups, as well as the US Bureau of African Affairs, have referenced the cases of the two in accusing President Samia Suluhu Hassan of treading the same authoritarian path as predecessor John Magufuli, whom she succeeded in 2021.

Mwangi and Atuhaire were detained in Tanzania's economic capital, Dar Es Salaam, to where they had travelled to offer support to Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu, facing a potential death sentence in a treason trial, ahead of elections in October.

"They take you through sexual torture, and tell you if you speak, you're going to be reported to your family and all that," said Mwangi, addressing a press conference alongside Atuhaire.

"And what they did to us is, it breaks me. Then they started beating my feet... I was screaming so hard. I couldn't breathe. There were no tears coming out because of how painful it was."

"They would put objects in my anus and then say, 'say you're feeling nice, say you're feeling good'. Then they would say, 'say asante (thank you in Swahili) Samia, asante Samia', so I say asante to their president," said Mwangi.

"We're here to share our story, and to say that our bodies may be broken, but our spirit is strong," he added.

- Demand for 'justice' -

President Hassan has accused foreign activists of attempting to "intrude and interfere" in Tanzania's affairs, prompting international criticism.

On the day of the abductions, she also urged security services "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here".

Atuhaire, who sat beside Mwangi at Monday's press conference in Nairobi, revealed she had filed a criminal complaint against the Tanzanian authorities and intended to have her voice heard.

"The only thing I desire is justice," she insisted. "It is what has enabled me to hold on in this situation."

She added: "I come from a very dictatorial country, where impunity reigns. But I never imagined one day I would find a worse foreign country, a worse government."

"You cannot be the head of state, the president, yet publicly and shamelessly condone torture, sexual violence."

Mwangi was found dumped on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border on May 22 while Atuhaire says she was left in the early hours of the following day by Tanzanian security agents near the Ugandan border.

Tanzania is to hold presidential and legislative elections in October. The east African nation of some 65 million people has been run by the same party since independence in 1961.

Lissu, Hassan's main poll rival, was arrested and charged for "incitement to block the polls" in what supporters see as politicised allegations.

His party has been banned from the poll.

He appeared in court on Monday and reiterated his campaign mantra of "no reforms, no elections", which saw him earn a warning from a magistrate.

His legal case has been postponed to June 16.

G.Boudreau--SMC