Latest news with #Atuhaire
Int'l Business Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Sexually Assaulted And Smeared In Excrement: Uganda Activist Details Torture In Tanzania
Stripped naked, beaten until she could no longer walk, sexually assaulted and covered in excrement: award-winning Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire told AFP of the torture she suffered at the hands of security forces in Tanzania this week. Atuhaire, who won an International Women of Courage Award from the United States last year, was arrested on Monday in Tanzania's business hub Dar es Salaam. She had travelled there to support opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is on trial for treason, facing a potential death penalty, ahead of elections in October. Atuhaire was abandoned early Friday by Tanzanian agents near the Ugandan border after a brutal ordeal, she said. "What happened in Tanzania stays in Tanzania," she said she was told. "We have videos of you." Atuhaire was arrested along with Boniface Mwangi, a well-known rights activist from Kenya who also wanted to attend the trial. Police told her: "Whites are sending you to destabilise our country," she told AFP in an interview in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Friday. After being interrogated, Atuhaire and Mwangi were blindfolded and driven to an unknown location. There, they took Mwangi out of the car and began beating him. "He was screaming," said Atuhaire, adding that the agents had played gospel songs on the car radio, apparently trying to muffle the sound. She says she was stripped naked, her hands cuffed to her ankles. She has injuries on her forearms and legs. One of the Tanzanian officers then hit the soles of her feet "with all his might", while another inserted an object into her anus, she said. "I had never known pain like that existed," she said. "I don't remember which pain was worse," she added. "After that beating, I scream, I scream." Then they smeared her body with excrement, she said. The whole scene was filmed -- "to humiliate, instil fear but also silence you", she said. "They are used to sexual abuse being something a victim is ashamed of. (But) I am not that victim... I am not the one who should be ashamed. You are the one who is committing a heinous crime, so you are the one who should be ashamed," Atuhaire said. The US State Department said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" about the reports of mistreatment of Atuhaire and Mwangi, calling for "an immediate and full investigation". Amnesty International also said the "torture and forcible deportation" of Mwangi and Atuhaire must be "urgently investigated". AFP attempted to reach the Tanzanian government for comment, but there was no immediate response. Atuhaire, a lawyer and journalist, is a fierce critic of the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for almost 40 years. Her work in exposing corruption as head of the Agora Centre for Research has earned her international recognition. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Monday foreign activists were attempting to "intrude and interfere" in the country's affairs. She urged the security services "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here". Rights groups accuse Hassan of a brutal crackdown on the opposition ahead of the October elections. Lissu's Chadema party has been banned from taking part after refusing to sign an electoral "code of conduct" without significant reforms. The day after Hassan warned foreign activists, Atuhaire was still in detention and "couldn't step on the floor" due to the beatings on her feet, she said. "The pain was unimaginable," she said, but her captors forced her to "get up and exercise". In the following days, until her release, she says she was kept blindfolded, living in fear of what might happen next. "We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture," said Mwangi, struggling to walk, after he was released and had returned to the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday. "The situation in Tanzania is very bad. I think what happened to us is what happens to all Tanzanian activists," he said. Atuhaire says she will file a complaint against Tanzania for the torture she suffered. "For me, the need for justice supersedes anything, any feeling of shame, which I don't even feel," she told AFP. "Of course it is difficult. I have physical pain. I am sure after that I'll deal with mental psychological pain. But I will not give anyone, any of these murderers, criminal organisations that we have as governments, the pleasure" of seeing her broken, she said. Atuhaire says she was beaten on the feet and sexually assaulted AFP Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi says he was detained and tortured alongside Atuhaire AFP
France 24
6 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Sexually assaulted and smeared in excrement: Uganda activist details torture in Tanzania
Atuhaire, who won an International Women of Courage Award from the United States last year, was arrested on Monday in Tanzania's business hub Dar es Salaam. She had travelled there to support opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is on trial for treason, facing a potential death penalty, ahead of elections in October. Atuhaire was abandoned early Friday by Tanzanian agents near the Ugandan border after a brutal ordeal, she said. "What happened in Tanzania stays in Tanzania," she said she was told. "We have videos of you." Atuhaire was arrested along with Boniface Mwangi, a well-known rights activist from Kenya who also wanted to attend the trial. Police told her: "Whites are sending you to destabilise our country," she told AFP in an interview in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Friday. After being interrogated, Atuhaire and Mwangi were blindfolded and driven to an unknown location. There, they took Mwangi out of the car and began beating him. "He was screaming," said Atuhaire, adding that the agents had played gospel songs on the car radio, apparently trying to muffle the sound. She says she was stripped naked, her hands cuffed to her ankles. She has injuries on her forearms and legs. One of the Tanzanian officers then hit the soles of her feet "with all his might", while another inserted an object into her anus, she said. "I had never known pain like that existed," she said. "I don't remember which pain was worse," she added. "After that beating, I scream, I scream." Then they smeared her body with excrement, she said. The whole scene was filmed -- "to humiliate, instil fear but also silence you", she said. "They are used to sexual abuse being something a victim is ashamed of. (But) I am not that victim... I am not the one who should be ashamed. You are the one who is committing a heinous crime, so you are the one who should be ashamed," Atuhaire said. The US State Department said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" about the reports of mistreatment of Atuhaire and Mwangi, calling for "an immediate and full investigation". Amnesty International also said the "torture and forcible deportation" of Mwangi and Atuhaire must be "urgently investigated". AFP attempted to reach the Tanzanian government for comment, but there was no immediate response. 'Pain was unimaginable' Atuhaire, a lawyer and journalist, is a fierce critic of the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for almost 40 years. Her work in exposing corruption as head of the Agora Centre for Research has earned her international recognition. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Monday foreign activists were attempting to "intrude and interfere" in the country's affairs. She urged the security services "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here". Rights groups accuse Hassan of a brutal crackdown on the opposition ahead of the October elections. Lissu's Chadema party has been banned from taking part after refusing to sign an electoral "code of conduct" without significant reforms. The day after Hassan warned foreign activists, Atuhaire was still in detention and "couldn't step on the floor" due to the beatings on her feet, she said. "The pain was unimaginable," she said, but her captors forced her to "get up and exercise". In the following days, until her release, she says she was kept blindfolded, living in fear of what might happen next. "We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture," said Mwangi, struggling to walk, after he was released and had returned to the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday. "The situation in Tanzania is very bad. I think what happened to us is what happens to all Tanzanian activists," he said. Atuhaire says she will file a complaint against Tanzania for the torture she suffered. "For me, the need for justice supersedes anything, any feeling of shame, which I don't even feel," she told AFP. "Of course it is difficult. I have physical pain. I am sure after that I'll deal with mental psychological pain. But I will not give anyone, any of these murderers, criminal organisations that we have as governments, the pleasure" of seeing her broken, she said. burs-jf/er/rbu/jhb © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Tortured' Ugandan activist dumped at border following arrest in Tanzania
A Ugandan human rights activist, arrested in Tanzania after travelling to the country to support an opposition politician at a trial for treason, has been tortured and dumped at the border, according to an NGO. Ugandan rights group Agora Discourse said on Friday that activist and journalist Agather Atuhaire had been 'abandoned at the border by Tanzanian authorities' and showed signs of torture. The statement echoes reports regarding a Kenyan activist detained at the same time and released a day earlier, and supports complaints of a crackdown on democracy across East Africa. Atuhaire had travelled to Tanzania alongside Kenyan anticorruption campaigner Boniface Mwangi to support opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who appeared in court on Monday. Both were arrested shortly after the hearing and held incommunicado. Tanzanian police had initially told local rights groups that the pair would be deported by air. However, Mwangi was discovered on Thursday on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border. Agora Discourse said it was 'relieved to inform the public that Agather has been found'. However, the rights group's cofounder Jim Spire Ssentongo confirmed to the AFP news agency on Friday that there were 'indications of torture'. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been accused of increasing authoritarianism, amid rising concerns regarding democracy across East Africa. Activists travelling to Lissu's trail accused Tanzania of 'collaborating' with Kenya and Uganda in their 'total erosion of democratic principles'. Several high-profile political arrests have highlighted the rights record of Hassan, who plans to seek re-election in October. The Tanzanian leader has said that her government is committed to respecting human rights. However, she warned earlier this week that foreign activists would not be tolerated in the country as Lissu appeared in court. 'Do not allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here,' Hassan instructed security services. Several activists from Kenya, including a former justice minister, said they were denied entry to Tanzania as they tried to travel to attend the trial. Following his return to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Mwangi said that he and Atuhaire had suffered a brutal experience. 'We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture,' he told reporters. 'The Government of Tanzania cannot hide behind national sovereignty to justify committing serious crimes and human rights violations against its own citizens and other East Africans,' the International Commission of Jurists in Kenya said in a statement.
TimesLIVE
7 days ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Tanzania releases Ugandan activist at border, Kenyan colleague alleges torture
Tanzania has released the second of two foreign activists who had come to support an opposition leader charged with treason, her organisation said on Friday, after a Kenyan fellow activist said they had both been badly tortured. Ugandan lawyer and activist Agather Atuhaire, who had been in custody since Monday, was abandoned at the border between Tanzania and Uganda, Agora Centre for Research, the Uganda-based rights group that she leads, posted on X. 'We are relieved to inform the public that (Agather) has been found,' it said. On Thursday, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi, who was also detained after arriving in Dar es Salaam to attend the first court appearance of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, had been dumped on the Kenyan border. In a post on X, he said the last time he had been held together with Atuhaire was on Tuesday, when he had heard her groaning in pain after being tortured. Reuters could not reach Atuhaire directly. 'Our (torturers) were acting on orders from a 'state security' employee who came to immigration offices and followed us to Central police station and ordered we should be taken to a secret location to be given a 'Tanzanian treatment',' Mwangi said. Tanzanian officials had not commented on Atuhaire and Mwangi's detentions specifically, but President Samia Suluhu Hassan warned foreign activists in public comments on Monday against 'invading and interfering in our affairs'. Lissu, who came second in Tanzania's last presidential poll, was arrested last month and charged with treason over what prosecutors said was a speech calling on the public to rebel and disrupt elections due in October. The case has highlighted a crackdown on opponents of Hassan, whose party has nominated her to stand again. She won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing the political repression that had proliferated under her predecessor, but has faced mounting criticism over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents. Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year. Spokespeople for Tanzania's government, police force and immigration service did not respond to repeated requests for comment about Mwangi's allegations of torture.
DW
7 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Ugandan activist freed by Tanzania, 'indications of torture' – DW – 05/23/2025
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan warned earlier this week that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country's affairs. Tanzania has released Ugandan lawyer and activist Agather Atuhaire, who had been in custody since Monday after attempting to attend a treason trial for an opposition leader. Ugandan rights group Agora Discourse posted on X on Friday that Atuhaire had been found. "She was abandoned at the border by Tanzanian authorities," it said. Its co-founder Spire Ssentongo told the AFP news agency that "Agather is under the care of family and friends." "She was dumped at the border at night by the authorities and there are indications of torture," Ssentongo added. Accusations of torture Atuhaire is the second of two foreign activists — the other being Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi — who had been detained after arriving in Tanzania's most populous city, Dar es Salaam, to attend the first court appearance of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Mwangi is a prominent campaigner against corruption and police brutality in Kenya. He was also found abandoned on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border, Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported. "We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture," Mwangi told reporters on his return to Nairobi. Is Tanzania's government trying to silence opposition? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In a post on X, Mwangi said the last time he had been held together with Atuhaire was on Tuesday, when he had heard her groaning in pain after being tortured. "Our (torturers) were acting on orders from a 'state security' employee who came to Immigration offices and followed us to Central Police Station and ordered we should be taken to a secret location to be given a 'Tanzanian treatment'," Mwangi said. Tanzanian officials had not commented on the arrests of Atuhaire and Mwangi. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, however, warned earlier this week that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country's affairs. She urged security services "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here." What's behind the treason trial? Lissu, with whom the two activists wanted to show solidarity, is the leader of the country's main opposition party, Chadema. He came second in Tanzania's last presidential poll. Lissu was arrested last month and charged with treason over an alleged speech calling on Tanzanians to rebel and disrupt the country's presidential and parliamentary elections that are scheduled for October. The government claims that encouraging citizens to boycott the election is tantamount to an act of rebellion. Chadema was also disqualified from the elections after it refused to sign an electoral "code of conduct." Meet Tundu Lissu: The leader of Tanzania's Chadema party To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Growing crackdown on political opponents The case has highlighted a growing crackdown on opponents of President Hassan, whose party has nominated her to stand again. The 65-year-old leader became president after John Magufuli's death in 2021. Suluhu's tenure began with optimism, pledging to reverse many of Magufuli's controversial policies. However, she faced mounting criticism over frequent arrests, abductions, and killings of opposition politicians. Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year. Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
