Tanzania's First Female Leader Championed Human Rights. Now She's Turning to Repression.
Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania's first female president, came to power as a renowned defender of human rights. She is clinging to it, critics say, by locking up and torturing those who stand in her way.
In recent months, Hassan's government has orchestrated abductions and killings of several political rivals, rights groups say. A senior opposition leader was found dead—beaten and doused with acid—after being abducted by security agents, according to his political party. Authorities closed a top newspaper, which had published stories about his death. A Catholic priest is battling for his life after surviving a brutal beating by unknown assailants as he returned from a conference where he made remarks critical of the government.
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