Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan human rights lawyer Agather Atuhaire have shared chilling details of their alleged abduction, torture, and deportation by Tanzanian authorities — a harrowing ordeal that has drawn condemnation from across the region.
Speaking in Nairobi a week after their return from Tanzania, Mwangi recounted the terrifying experience that began with their arrest while attending court proceedings for Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
“They did very terrible things to me and Agather. Whatever they did was recorded, and they said they would release the footage once we returned home,” Mwangi told journalists.
The former photojournalist accused the Kenyan government of abandoning him and instead siding with the Tanzanian authorities.
The two had travelled to Tanzania in solidarity with Lissu, but their mission was cut short when they were denied entry into the courtroom and later seized under unclear circumstances.
Atuhaire, speaking emotionally during the press briefing, described how she was abducted by five men and one woman, forced into a dark vehicle, blindfolded, and taken to an unknown location.
“I almost sat on guns… I thought it was over,” she recalled.
Mwangi says he was blindfolded and bundled into a vehicle at dawn on Thursday, and dumped at the Horohoro border days later with 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (about Sh400) and no explanation.
“There was a boda boda rider waiting for me. They told me to lie down after dropping me at the border, and the rider then drove me to the Kenya-Tanzania crossing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Atuhaire was dumped at the Uganda-Tanzania border in the dead of night. Although she has since reunited with her family, the activist said she is still physically and emotionally shaken.
The activist said she was forcefully taken from her hotel room before sunrise — even before her lawyers could intervene — and forced into a tinted vehicle.
“The car was already tinted, but they still thought to add blindfolds. I was sandwiched between two people.” She said. “I knew they would come for me eventually, but I didn’t think it would be in Tanzania.”
Atuhaire, who has faced political pressure in Uganda for her outspoken activism, said she has long lived in fear.
“I’ve lived looking over my shoulder in Uganda, where I’ve made many enemies because of my stand. But I never imagined I’d find a government that’s worse.”
The outspoken activist said they were first detained at the immigration office before being taken to a police station where they were denied access to their lawyers.
“They wanted to know about Mwangi’s gadgets and kept interrogating me about what I was doing in Tanzania.”
Though her visit was legitimate and within her rights as a journalist and observer, Atuhaire said officials were enraged by her international travel history.
“They looked at my visa and got angry that I had travelled so much. They said I must have been sent by whites to destabilize their country,” she said.
Atuhaire compared her experience to the political repression she has fought against in her own country — only to be met with worse across the border.
“I come from a country that is so dictatorial and has a lot of impunity, but I never knew I would find a government that is worse.”
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan human rights lawyer Agather Atuhaire have shared chilling details of
their alleged abduction
, torture, and deportation by Tanzanian authorities — a harrowing ordeal that has drawn condemnation from across the region.
Speaking in Nairobi a week after their return from Tanzania, Mwangi recounted the terrifying experience that began with their arrest while attending court proceedings for Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
“They did very terrible things to me and Agather. Whatever they did was recorded, and they said they would release the footage once we returned home,” Mwangi told journalists.
The former photojournalist accused the Kenyan government of abandoning him and instead siding with the Tanzanian authorities.
The two had travelled to Tanzania in
solidarity with Lissu,
but their mission was cut short when they were denied entry into the courtroom and later seized under unclear circumstances.
Atuhaire, speaking emotionally during the press briefing, described how she was abducted by five men and one woman, forced into a dark vehicle, blindfolded, and taken to an unknown location.
“I almost sat on guns… I thought it was over,” she recalled.
Mwangi says he was blindfolded and bundled into a vehicle at dawn on Thursday, and
dumped at the Horohoro border
days later with 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (about Sh400) and no explanation.
“There was a boda boda rider waiting for me. They told me to lie down after dropping me at the border, and the rider then drove me to the Kenya-Tanzania crossing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Atuhaire was dumped at the Uganda-Tanzania border in the dead of night. Although she has since reunited with her family, the activist said she is still physically and emotionally shaken.
The activist said she was forcefully taken from her hotel room before sunrise — even before her lawyers could intervene — and forced into a tinted vehicle.
“The car was already tinted, but they still thought to add blindfolds. I was sandwiched between two people.” She said. “I knew they would come for me eventually, but I didn’t think it would be in Tanzania.”
Atuhaire, who has faced political pressure in Uganda for her outspoken activism, said she has long lived in fear.
“I’ve lived looking over my shoulder in Uganda, where I’ve made many enemies because of my stand. But I never imagined I’d find a government that’s worse.”
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The outspoken activist said they were first detained at the immigration office before being taken to a police station where they were denied access to their lawyers.
“They wanted to know about Mwangi’s gadgets and kept interrogating me about what I was doing in Tanzania.”
Though her visit was legitimate and within her rights as a journalist and observer, Atuhaire said officials were enraged by her international travel history.
“They looked at my visa and got angry that I had travelled so much. They said I must have been sent by whites to destabilize their country,” she said.
Atuhaire compared her experience to the political repression she has fought against in her own country — only to be met with worse across the border.
“I come from a country that is so dictatorial and has a lot of impunity, but I never knew I would find a government that is worse.”
By Mike Kihaki