Tanzanian police chief Faustine Mafwele accused of leading torture, abduction of activists

Tanzania’s Assistant Commissioner of Police, Faustine Jackson Mafwele, is under scrutiny over allegations of orchestrating extrajudicial operations, including the abduction and torture of Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist Agather Atuhaire.

Mwangi, who travelled to Tanzania in May to support opposition leader Tundu Lissu during a court appearance, has shared a harrowing testimony detailing days of incommunicado detention, severe physical torture, and sexual abuse allegedly coordinated by Mafwele, whom he described as the “lead coordinator and implementer behind extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances.”

Mwangi said he encountered Mafwele at the Central Police Station, where he and Agather had been taken. He said Mafwele accused him of having participated in torching Kenya’s Parliament buildings during the 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests, claiming to have obtained the information from undisclosed sources.

“At around 7 pm, we were taken to the Central Police Station. A man whom I later came to know as Faustine Jackson Mafwele started making serious allegations against me,” Mwangi said.

“He said he had information that I had helped burn Kenya’s parliament last year, and I was a member of an illegal gang in Kenya. He also threatened to rape me.”

Originated from Kenyan authorities

Mwangi said the allegations could only have originated from Kenyan authorities, raising concerns of cross-border coordination in the repression of political dissent. He said Mafwele slapped and punched him in the presence of lawyers, including Agather and other officers.

“He said I would forever remember his face, even if I never saw him again,” Mwangi said.

The lawyers, according to Mwangi, were threatened, accused of betraying Tanzania, and told they would be investigated for a lack of patriotism. They were eventually forced to leave.

Mwangi and Atuhaire, who were each holding a book at the time, had them confiscated by Mafwele.

The officer allegedly made crude, personal remarks and, after asking Mwangi if he was circumcised, said, “I will circumcise you again to teach you a lesson.”

He noted that the abuse escalated later that night when a group of men and a woman in civilian clothing arrived and transported the two activists in a white Land Cruiser with tinted windows.

“At the back of the car were batons and vehicle registration plates. I was handcuffed in the back and blindfolded. Those men reeked of alcohol and looked dangerously evil,” he said.

Strip naked

After arriving at a compound, he was ordered to strip naked. Handcuffed and blindfolded, he was tied upside down to a metal pole.

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• Tanzania
• Tundu Lissu
• activists
• chadema
• Ugandan journalist
• Agather Atuhaire
• Tanzania Assistant Commissioner of Police
• Faustine Jackson Mafwele
• Freeman Mbowe a
• Tanzanian police chief Faustine Mafwele accused of leading torture
• abduction of activists

“They started hitting the soles of my feet with a wooden plank, and then someone would massage my feet after every hit… They played gospel music at full blast on the car’s radio to drown out my screams,” he said.

“They said, ‘weka moto’ (put fire), and that’s when someone applied some lubricant on my anus, and they started shoving objects that I have no idea what they were. They laughed as they shoved the objects… They told me they were recording everything, and if I dared to speak about what had happened to me, they would post the videos online.”

He added, “They asked me to wiggle my waist while they inserted things in my anus, say I was enjoying myself, and shout, ‘Asante Mama Samia’. They photographed me while naked, then told me to turn around, squat while facing the wall, and inserted fingers into my anus. They asked me to say, ‘Asante Mama Samia’ while they were violating me.”

He said he was forced to give up personal information, including his email, social media passwords, his wife's and children’s names, their school, and home address.

“They threatened to harm my family if I revealed what they had done to me,” he said.

Groaned in pain

According to Mwangi, he groaned in pain the entire night and could hear Agather Atuhaire crying out nearby.

“Any attempt to talk to each other was met with blows, and we were ordered to be silent,” he said.

According to reports, Mafwele, aged 47, is accused of leading a criminal gang involved in numerous human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances.

Mafwele’s name first gained public attention when Edgar Edson Mwakabela, known as Sativa, identified him as the senior police officer who ordered his abduction and attempted assassination.

Between 2011 and 2015, Mafwele served as the Officer Commanding Criminal Investigation Department (OC-CID) in Arusha and later as Regional Crimes Officer for the same region. During this period, he was allegedly linked to the deaths of CHADEMA members who were killed during protests in January 2011.

Survived shooting

In 2012, Mafwele himself was reportedly shot during a police shootout but survived after receiving treatment at Seriani Hospital.

He later served as the Zonal Crime Officer for the MKIRU Special Zone before being transferred to Mwanza as Regional Crimes Officer.

In 2021, Tanzanian citizen William Sije publicly accused Mafwele of killing his son, James William Sije, an allegation that further exposed his reputation for brutality.

Mafwele was then transferred back to Dar es Salaam in April 2022, where he was assigned to combat armed robbery and notorious "Panya Road" gangs.

Feared by his peers

Despite not holding high-ranking authority within the police force, Mafwele is reportedly feared by his peers and superiors alike, partly due to alleged ties with the National Security Department, where he is rumoured to act as a Penetrating Officer operating dual roles.

Numerous families of abducted or disappeared persons have pointed fingers at Mafwele, linking him to cases including the disappearances of businessman Musa Mziba, Deo Mugasa, Adinani Hussein Mbezi, five youths from Aggrey, and others.

Former Chairman of the Tanzania Opposition Party CHADEMA Freeman Mbowe also accused Mafwele and his gang of involvement in the disappearance of political figures in 2024.