Activists to sue Tanzania over alleged torture

Two east African activists say they plan to sue Tanzania’s government for illegal detention and torture during a visit in support of an opposition politician in May, according to The Guardian. Boniface Mwangi, from Kenya, and Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan, sent shock waves around the region earlier this month when they gave an emotional press conference in which they alleged they had been sexually assaulted and, in Atuhaire’s case, smeared in excrement after their detention in Dar es Salaam. Even in a region accustomed to recurrent rights abuses, the apparent targeting of foreigners by the Tanzanian authorities marked a new and worrying turn in a crackdown on critics and opponents of the President, Samia Suluhu Hassan. Mwangi and Atuhaire said they planned to initiate cases in a Tanzanian court as well as through regional and international avenues, including the East African Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 'We’re not going to let them get away with this,' said Mwangi, a well-known Kenyan photojournalist and activist. Atuhaire, a lawyer, journalist and critic of the government of the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, said: 'We need to hold these guys accountable to know that they cannot violate people unprovoked like that.' Last week Tanzania’s representative to the UN, Abdallah Possi, told a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that although these claims against the government are highly doubtful, the government is currently investigating and, if established, those concerned will be held accountable. A series of killings, kidnappings, arrests and tortures over the past year have prompted widespread condemnation locally and internationally. Among those killed was Mohamed Ali Kibao, a member of the secretariat of the main opposition party Chadema, who was found beaten and with his face doused with acid in September.

Full report in The Guardian