Activist Boniface Mwangi wheeled to Moi International Airport on May 22, 2025/ SCREENGRABPolice Reforms Working Group-Kenya has urged Tanzania to allow an impartial probe into allegations that activist Boniface Mwangi was tortured while being held by authorities.
The lobby further demanded unconditional release of Ugandan journalist Agatha Atuhaire, and all Tanzanian activists who are currently detained “in violation of international and regional human rights standards.”
“The Tanzanian government must allow an impartial probe into the torture allegations, and the perpetrators must be held accountable,” the lobby said in a statement.
Police Reforms Working Group is an alliance of national and grassroots organisations committed to professional and rule of law policing.
They include Amnesty International Kenya, Defenders Coalition, Katiba Institute, Kenya Human Rights Commission, The Kenyan Section of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), International Justice Mission (IJM-K), HAKI Africa and Transparency International – Kenya among others.
Mwangi cannot walk properly after he was allegedly tortured by Tanzanian intelligence officers, who released him on Thursday in Ukunda, Kwale County, according to his lawyer James Kamau.
He had been missing since Monday, after he flew to the East African nation to attend the court hearing of opposition figure Tundu Lissu.
Atuhaire, who was alongside Mwangi, is still unaccounted for.
Mwangi was detained alongside Atuhaire shortly after the detention and deportation of former Justice Minister Martha Karua, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, Vocal Africa CEO Hussein Khalid, and activist Hanifa Adan at Julius Nyerere International Airport on Sunday and Monday
PRWH-K further urged Community of Nations, including regional and international human rights mechanisms such as the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner and the Committee Against Torture alongside the Kenyan and Ugandan governments to urgently and publicly express concerns demand the protection of their citizens’ rights in Tanzania.
“EAC states must end the criminalisation of dissent and uphold freedom of expression,” the lobby emphasised.
The lobby called upon the African Union, UN Human Rights Council, and international partners to “pressure Tanzania and allied regimes to cease these violations.”
