Amnesty flags arrests, abductions and killings ahead of Tanzania’s 2025 elections
The report also documented multiple cases of enforced disappearances and killings. In July 2024, Chadema official Dioniz Kipanya vanished after leaving home, while senior strategist Ali Mohammed Kibao was found dead in Dar es Salaam in September following an abduction.
Tanzania's government has intensified a crackdown on opposition leaders, journalists and civil society groups ahead of the country's October 29 general elections, Amnesty International has warned in a new report, raising serious concerns over the credibility of the vote.
The report, based on interviews with 43 victims, witnesses, family members, legal representatives, and civil society organisations, documents arbitrary arrests, abductions, extrajudicial killings and restrictive laws aimed at silencing dissent.
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According to Amnesty, the elections are expected to be dominated by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, with key opposition figures sidelined. Opposition leader Tundu Lissu is currently facing treason charges, while Luhaga Mpina was disqualified from running for a second time.
"Under President Samia Suluhu Hassan's watch, authorities have continued and intensified repressive practices targeting opposition leaders, civil society, journalists, and dissenting voices, including through assaults, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, with nobody held accountable," said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's regional director for East and Southern Africa.
"Political opponents have faced politically motivated charges and in some cases their right to contest the vote has been denied."
The report also documented multiple cases of enforced disappearances and killings. In July 2024, Chadema official Dioniz Kipanya vanished after leaving home, while senior strategist Ali Mohammed Kibao was found dead in Dar es Salaam in September following an abduction.
Several youth activists abducted over a year ago also remain missing according to the report, with survivors reporting torture, beatings, and other abuses, often filmed to intimidate others.
"The Tanganyika Law Society documented 83 cases of people going missing under mysterious circumstances as of August 9, 2024," said Amnesty.
Similarly, the report revealed that Tanzania has passed laws restricting political and civic freedoms, including amendments to the Political Parties Affairs Laws Act and the Independent National Electoral Commission Act. Peaceful gatherings in the country have been banned, disrupted, or violently dispersed, with opposition leaders facing travel restrictions that prevent participation in international forums.
"On May 13, 2025, Chadema deputy secretary general Amani Golugwa was arrested at Julius Nyerere International Airport as he was preparing to travel to Brussels to attend the International Democracy Union Forum. He said the police questioned him about allegedly sending information to individuals in the European Parliament," said Amnesty.
The NGO subsequently urged the Tanzanian government to release opposition members held without valid reason, investigate all abuses and hold those responsible accountable.
"The 2025 elections risk becoming a procedural exercise devoid of legitimacy, conducted in an environment where fear, violence, and exclusion have replaced open political participation," said Chagutah.
"Authorities must end their unacceptable campaign of repression against dissent, which has escalated since the last elections five years ago. They must immediately and unconditionally drop trumped up and politically motivated charges against all those detained solely for expressing political and religious views or other beliefs, including opposition leader Tundu Lissu."
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