Prominent Tanzanian female activist, Maria Sarungi Tsehai has now been released after her husband alleged that she was whisked away by three armed men on the streets of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
The human rights defender critical of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, was allegedly kidnapped on Sunday, January 12, and taken into a black car in the Kilimani neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon, Amnesty International said.
“I am now safe, many thanks to everyone,” Sarungi Tsehai wrote on X several hours later.
Her brief detention comes as the governments of both Tanzania and Kenya stand accused of abducting critics.
Sarungi Tsehai’s husband David Tsehai said the couple sought refuge in Nairobi four years ago after fleeing Tanzania.
“It was the scariest moment of my life,” he said in a video clip shared by the Law Society of Kenya late on Sunday.
“There is no doubt in my mind (it is) the thugs of the Tanzania Information and Security Services (TISS) who are behind this.”
Amnesty International researcher Roland Ebole said Sarungi Tsehai’s abduction was another example of “transnational repression that is happening on Kenyan soil,” accusations Kenyan authorities deny.
