Tanzanian authorities are looking into a government critic’s alleged kidnapping
Police in Tanzania said they were looking into claims that a former ambassador who was now criticizing the government had been abducted after his family claimed he had been forcibly removed from his home.
Since last year, a number of opponents of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration, who is scheduled to run for reelection on October 29, have vanished, and opposition parties claim that this is part of a campaign of kidnappings.
His brother, Godfrey Polepole, told Reuters that Humphrey Polepole, who resigned as ambassador to Cuba in July and has since fiercely and repeatedly criticized Tanzania’s ruling party, disappeared early Monday from his house in the commercial metropolis of Dar es Salaam.
“The main door entering the house was broken and the door to the bedroom was broken as well,” he stated. “There was a lot of blood from the sitting room all the way to the bedroom and the bloodstains continued even outside toward the gate area.”
Hassan ordered an investigation into reports of abductions last year, but no official findings have been released. Hassan gained praise after taking office in 2021 for reducing the repression of political opponents that was widespread under her predecessor.
A call and text message requesting response were not immediately answered by government spokeswoman Gerson Msigwa.
In a statement released on September 29, the administration referred to reports of kidnappings as “a major source of concern for the government” and denied claims made by Human Rights Watch that it was retaliating against its critics in the run-up to the election.
Police spokesperson David Misime stated that the force was looking into claims that Polepole had been kidnapped.
“His relatives have been spreading rumors on social media that he has been abducted, and the Police Force has received these claims. In a statement released late Monday, he stated, “We have already started working… to ascertain the truth.”
During online press briefings following his resignation as ambassador, Polepole launched a series of broadsides against the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), accusing it of corruption, kidnapping government dissidents, and violating party rules by selecting Hassan as its presidential candidate.
Human rights concerns have also been raised against Hassan’s administration because of the arrest of Tundu Lissu, Tanzania’s chief opposition figure, in April.
Due to what prosecutors claimed was a speech inciting the populace to resist, Lissu was put on trial for treason on Monday. He has stated that the charges are politically motivated and entered a not guilty plea.
