A Ugandan activist and journalist, Agather Atuhaire, has been found with signs of torture after being abandoned at the Ugandan border by Tanzanian authorities, following her arrest earlier this week alongside Kenyan journalist and human rights activist Boniface Mwangi.
The two were detained in Tanzania while attempting to attend the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu in Dodoma, where they had gone to show solidarity.
Atuhaire’s detention was condemned by rights group Agora Discourse, which announced Friday that she had been located. According to the group’s co-founder Spire Ssentongo, she is now receiving care from family and friends.
“She was dumped at the border at night by the authorities and there are indications of torture,” Ssentongo said.
“Worse Than Dogs”
Mwangi, who returned to Nairobi on Thursday, described the ordeal as harrowing. Speaking to reporters at Wilson Airport, he recounted:
“We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded, and underwent a very gruesome torture.”
His wife, Njeri Mwangi, and fellow activists welcomed him with emotional embraces and cheers.
Though Tanzanian authorities initially claimed the two activists would be deported by air, Mwangi was later found abandoned by a roadside in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border. Atuhaire was discovered in similar fashion at the Ugandan side of the border.
Government Position
The crackdown has raised fresh concerns over Tanzania’s handling of dissent and treatment of foreign human rights defenders. Earlier this week, President Samia Suluhu Hassan warned that foreign activists would not be allowed to “interfere” in the country’s internal matters.
“Do not allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here,” she said in a statement directed at Tanzanian security agencies.
The incident has drawn strong criticism from regional and international human rights groups, with calls for an independent investigation into the detention, alleged torture, and illegal expulsion of the activists.
Both Mwangi and Atuhaire are known for their outspoken criticism of state abuses, corruption, and suppression of civil liberties in East Africa.
