A Ugandan activist who was arrested and held incommunicado for several days in Tanzania has alleged she was raped while in detention.
Agather Atuhaire, who was later found at the border between the two countries, told the BBC she was blindfolded, violently stripped and sexually assaulted by people in plain clothes. She said she heard the screams of a fellow activist, Kenyan Boniface Mwangi, during their captivity.
Tanzanian authorities have not commented on the allegations.
Atuhaire was arrested after traveling to Tanzania to show support for Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who appeared in court Monday on treason charges. Mwangi was found abandoned on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border, while Atuhaire was found at the border on Thursday night.
“The pain was too much,” Atuhaire told the BBC, showing a scar on her wrist from handcuffs. “I was screaming so hard they had to cover my mouth.”
Mwangi, who was detained alongside Atuhaire, described in a post on X how they were tortured, forced to strip naked, and made to crawl to wash off blood. He said they were separated and held in different vehicles, with those holding them taking orders from a “state security” official.
The Agora Centre for Research, a Uganda-based rights group that Atuhaire leads, said she was detained since Monday and only released Thursday night. Uganda’s high commissioner to Tanzania, Fred Mwesigye, confirmed her safe return to Uganda.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said it was “deeply concerned” about the activists’ alleged mistreatment and called for an investigation. It noted Atuhaire had been recognized as an International Women of Courage Awardee in 2024.
On Monday, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan warned that activists from neighboring countries would not be allowed to “meddle” in Tanzania’s affairs or cause “chaos.”
Kenya’s government lodged a formal protest against Mwangi’s detention, saying Tanzanian authorities repeatedly denied consular access. Mwangi’s disappearance also sparked protests and concern across Kenya, with civil society and human rights groups demanding his release.
Regional rights organizations have urged an independent investigation and called on East African countries to uphold human rights treaties.