Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi has come forward with a harrowing account of torture he and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire suffered while detained in Tanzania, openly calling out President Samia Suluhu for their ordeal.
Mwangi, who was released on Thursday after being held since Monday, stated that he and Atuhaire had traveled to Dar es Salaam to show solidarity with Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. However, their peaceful mission quickly turned into what Mwangi described as a "politically motivated and inhumane ordeal."
Recalling the last time he was near Atuhaire — the morning of Tuesday, May 20, 2025 — Mwangi said she has since been found abandoned at the Mutukula border between Tanzania and Uganda.
“We had been tortured, and we were told to strip naked and to go bathe. We couldn't walk and were told to crawl and go wash off the blood,” Mwangi recounted. “We were handcuffed and blindfolded, so I didn't even see her, but I heard her groaning in pain as they barked orders at us.”
He added, “Any attempt to speak to each other during the night we were tortured was met with kicks and insults. We were removed from the torture location in different vehicles.”
Mwangi alleges that their mistreatment was directed by a Tanzanian state security officer who had trailed them from immigration offices to the Central Police Station. He claimed the officer ordered their relocation to a secret site for what was ominously described as “Tanzanian treatment.”
“That man assaulted me in the presence of three lawyers from Tanganyika Law Society and identifying him might help us find where Agather is being kept,” he stated. “He scared the three lawyers, and they left us at Central Police Station, where we were removed while handcuffed and blindfolded.”
He described the official as overweight, of average height, with light brown skin, short wavy hair, and a sagging potbelly. Mwangi said the man wore a black suit and a white shirt, and allegedly reports directly to President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
In a separate message, Mwangi expressed deep appreciation for those who advocated for his release, while reminding the public that Atuhaire's situation remains unresolved.
“Words can’t express my gratitude to all of you for raising your voices to get me released. I say ‘me’ because we are yet to know the whereabouts of my friend and comrade, Agather,” he wrote. “We went through the worst form of torture and were threatened with public humiliation if we revealed what they did to us.”
“You cannot torture us, however, and then dictate how we should react. We were detained, tortured, and treated worse than rabid dogs in the name of President Suluhu.”
Mwangi, known for his Pan-African activism, reflected on his consistent cross-border support for fellow activists.
“We were there peacefully as members of East African Community to attend a court hearing in solidarity with Chadema’s party leader, Tundu Lissu,” he said.
He noted previous visits to activists detained across the continent. “When the then Chadema’s Freeman Mbowe was in jail in the same Tanzania, I visited him. When Dr. Stella Nyanzi was jailed in Uganda, I went to see her. And when Bobi Wine was under house arrest, I went to visit him, too.”
Drawing inspiration from African liberation leaders, Mwangi cited Ghana’s first president: “As Kwame Nkurumah said, 'I’m not African because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me.’”
“I’m a Pan-Africanist, and I have trained and mentored activists in all four corners of our continent – from Arab to French-speaking and from English to Swahili-speaking nations.”
He emphasized their Tanzanian trip was intended to last only one day before heading to Uganda for another court hearing involving opposition figure Kizza Besigye — a plan that was violently disrupted.
“Our arrest and detention should not stop the solidarity among African activists or deter us from showing up for each other. Dictators are united, and only our own unity can help democratize our respective countries.”
Mwangi placed full responsibility for their treatment on the Tanzanian presidency: “Everything that happened to us in Tanzania was done in Samia Suluhu’s name, and we will ensure the world gets to know. We shall speak for the Tanzanian victims who are too afraid to speak.”
“What Suluhu did to us will be revealed to the world. We shall not be silenced by a torturous dictator who has her foot on the necks of the Tanzanian people."
