Ugandan and Kenyan activists say they were raped in Tanzania

Human rights activists from Kenya and Uganda, who were held for several days in Tanzania last month, claimed on Monday that they had been sexually molested by Tanzanian security forces during their incarceration.

Requests for response on the claims made by Kenya’s Boniface Mwangi and Uganda’s Agather Atuhaire were not immediately answered by representatives of Tanzania’s government, foreign affairs ministry, or police.

Calls for comment were not answered by the spokespersons for Uganda’s information minister or Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry.

After traveling to Dar es Salaam to witness Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s initial court appearance on treason charges, Mwangi and Atuhaire were taken into custody.

Although President Samia Suluhu Hassan cautioned foreign activists against “invading and interfering in our affairs” in public remarks on May 19, the day of Mwangi and Atuhaire’s incarceration, Tanzanian authorities have not responded to the detentions.

Mwangi claimed that after being arrested at their Dar es Salaam hotel, police officials blindfolded them and brought them to a residence. He claimed that his interrogators had stripped him, blindfolded him, and sexually attacked him while asking him where his laptop and phone were.

At a news conference in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, he sobbed as he recounted his experience, adding that the security guards had also taken pictures of him as he was being attacked.

According to Atuhaire, she had also been blindfolded, restrained, and subjected to similar abuse.

After being abandoned close to their nations’ borders, both activists returned home.

Lissu, who finished second in Tanzania’s most recent presidential election, was detained in April and accused of treason after allegedly urging the populace to rebel and sabotage the October polls.

Hassan’s party has nominated her to run in the October election, and the case has brought attention to an increasing crackdown on her opponents.

After taking office in 2021, she received praise for reducing the political persecution that had increased under her predecessor. However, she has been under increasing fire for a string of arrests and mysterious kidnappings of political rivals.

Hassan launched a probe into alleged kidnappings last year and stated that the government is dedicated to upholding human rights.