Tanzania: US Sanctions Tanzanian Police Officer Citing Torture of Activists Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire
Nairobi — The United States has designated a senior Tanzanian police official over gross human rights violations linked to the detention, torture, and sexual assault of Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist and activist Agather Atuhaire during their visit to Dar es Salaam last year.
In a statement issued on May 21, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Tanzanian Police Force Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustine Jackson Mafwele under Section 7031(c) of the US Department of State appropriations law, citing “credible information” linking him to gross human rights violations.
The US State Department said the alleged abuses stemmed from the detention and mistreatment of Mwangi and Atuhaire in May 2025, after the pair travelled to Tanzania to observe court proceedings involving opposition leader Tundu Lissu in Dar es Salaam.
“About one year ago, members of the Tanzanian Police Force detained, tortured, and sexually assaulted Ugandan Agather Atuhaire and Kenyan Boniface Mwangi,” Rubio said in the statement, adding that the designation bars Mafwele from entering the United States.
The sanctions mark one of the strongest international actions taken so far in response to allegations that Tanzanian security forces targeted foreign activists and journalists during heightened political tensions surrounding Lissu’s trial.
Mwangi and Atuhaire publicly detailed the alleged abuse during a press briefing on June 2, 2025, shortly after their release and deportation from Tanzania.
According to the two activists, they travelled to Dar es Salaam in solidarity with Lissu but were detained incommunicado for several days before being forcibly expelled.
Mwangi said he was deported through the Horohoro border into Kenya, while Atuhaire was expelled via Mutukula into Uganda.
‘Abducted and tortured’
During the briefing, Mwangi recounted what he described as a brutal torture ordeal allegedly carried out by Tanzanian security officers.
“We were abducted in Tanzania by Tanzanian security forces, and we were tortured,” Mwangi said, alleging that he was stripped naked, suspended upside down, and sexually assaulted using foreign objects.
He said the ordeal began after unknown men arrived at his hotel in the early hours of the morning and demanded that he accompany them.
Mwangi initially refused, barricading himself inside his room until morning despite being told the men were police officers.
Later, while preparing to leave the hotel, he said he was confronted by a larger group of men who took him to immigration offices where he was fingerprinted, photographed, and ordered to surrender his phone.
Mwangi further alleged that lawyers from the Tanganyika Law Society who had arrived to represent him were denied access, despite attempts by Kenya’s ambassador to Tanzania, Isaac Njenga, to intervene.
He also claimed that a man identifying himself as a government official physically assaulted him in front of lawyers and Atuhaire, branding him “an enemy of the state” and threatening further violence.
The allegations sparked outrage among civil society organisations in Kenya and Uganda, with regional and international human rights groups calling for independent investigations into the conduct of Tanzanian security agencies.
Several organisations also urged stronger accountability measures and enhanced protections for activists, journalists, and foreign observers operating within the East African region.
Tanzanian authorities have previously faced criticism from rights groups over alleged suppression of dissent, particularly during politically sensitive trials and opposition activities.
By Capital FM.
