Activist Boniface Mwangi details torture, sexual assault by Tanzanian security after arrest

Activist Boniface Mwangi has shared a harrowing account of his detention in Tanzania, alleging that officers forced him to strip naked, tied him upside down, and subjected him to sexual assault and humiliation.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, Mwangi, alongside Ugandan journalist and activist Agather Atuhaire, shared their traumatic experiences from a recent trip to Dar es Salaam, where they had gone to support opposition leader Tundu Lissu during his court appearance.

The two were held incommunicado for days before being dumped at border points—Mwangi at Horohoro on the Kenya side and Atuhaire at Mutukula on the Uganda side.

Both said they were arbitrarily arrested and subjected to degrading treatment by Tanzanian security agents.

“We were abducted in Tanzania by Tanzanian security forces, and we were tortured. They told me to strip naked. When I did, I was grabbed by four men, lifted up so fast. When they lifted me, they tied me upside down, put lubricant in my rectum and started inserting objects in my backside,” Mwangi said, tears running down.

Ambush by unknown men

According to Mwangi, he checked into his hotel. Early the next morning, he said unknown men knocked violently on his door, demanding that he accompany them.

“I said I can't leave my hotel room at that hour. At 3:30 am, a lawyer appeared claiming the men were police officers. Still, I refused and barricaded myself inside until morning,” he explained.

He later contacted Atuhaire to help collect his luggage as he prepared to leave. When he went downstairs, the men from earlier, now increased in number, attempted to arrest him.

“I screamed throughout the hotel and ran to my colleagues. The men followed me and insisted they only wanted to question me,” Mwangi said.

Lawyers barred

He said they took him to immigration offices where he was fingerprinted, photographed, and told to produce his phone. Mwangi noted that three lawyers from the Tanganyika Law Society joined them, but were later barred from access.

He noted that around 6 pm, Kenya’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Isaac Njenga, informed Mwangi that he would be deported.

“Shortly after, a man claiming to be from the state office began beating me in front of the lawyers and Agather. He called me an enemy of the state and said they would teach me a lesson,” Mwangi said.

He said the same officer threatened to rape Atuhaire and later declared both of them under arrest.

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“The lawyers were chased away under threats of arrest. One officer even asked if I was circumcised and threatened to do it forcibly,” Mwangi recalled.

Blindfolded

Mwangi revealed that the abuse escalated when they were taken to the Central Police Station and later blindfolded and transported in a Land Cruiser.

“There were fake number plates and sticks in the car. The men were in civilian clothes and smelled of alcohol,” Mwangi said.

According to Mwangi, they were taken to a facility where he described “brutal sexual assault.”

“They removed my handcuffs and told me to strip naked. I was tied upside down, beaten on the feet, and they shoved objects into my rectum. They told me to say ‘Asante Samia’—praise their president—while they tortured me,” he recounted.

Mwangi said the ordeal was recorded by the assailants who threatened to expose the videos if he ever spoke.

“They said if I ever spoke, they would release the footage. They interrogated me about my family, email, passwords, everything,” he said.

Squat while naked

Later, he said he was forced to squat while naked, facing a wall, while another man assaulted him. Meanwhile, he could hear Atuhaire screaming in another room.

“One man asked permission to rape her, saying she looked nice,” he said, visibly shaken.

On Tuesday morning, he said the two were ordered to shower under guard.

“I crawled like a dog to the bathroom because I couldn’t walk. I was still bleeding,” Mwangi said.

He was later transported in another Land Cruiser and taken to what he described as a coastal location.

“They insulted and kicked me through the night. On Wednesday morning, they gave me tea and mandazi. That afternoon, their tone changed. They said they would release me, but warned: ‘If you ever come back, we will kill you,” he said.

Walk barefoot

Mwangi said he was made to walk barefoot under supervision to “learn how to walk again.”

On Thursday morning, he said he was driven for hours before being dumped by the roadside near the Horohoro border.

“They gave me Sh400 and 20,000 Tanzanian shillings for transport. A boda boda rider took me to the border,” Mwangi said.

Both Mwangi and Atuhaire are now calling for international attention on human rights violations in Tanzania.

“We were tortured for standing in solidarity with someone. It is unacceptable. This must not happen to anyone else,” he said.