Ugandan activist, lawyer and journalist Agather Atuhaire has spoken out about the horrific abuse she says she endured in Tanzania after being arrested for supporting a prominent opposition figure.
Atuhaire, who last year received the prestigious International Women of Courage Award from the United States, says she was stripped, beaten, sexually violated and smeared with excrement during her detention by Tanzanian security agents.
Her arrest took place on Monday in Dar es Salaam, where she had traveled to stand in solidarity with Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Lissu, a vocal critic of the government, is currently on trial for treason – a charge that carries the death penalty – ahead of the country’s October elections.
Atuhaire told AFP that on Friday morning, after days of brutal mistreatment, she was blindfolded and dumped near the Ugandan border.
“They told me, ‘What happened in Tanzania stays in Tanzania,'” Atuhaire recalled. “They said they had videos of me.”
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She had been detained alongside Boniface Mwangi, a well-known Kenyan human rights advocate, who was also in Tanzania to attend Lissu’s trial.
On her return to Kampala, Atuhaire was met outside a hospital by a group of fellow journalists and activists who greeted her with flowers, hugs, and tears.
The chilling incident has drawn condemnation from rights groups across East Africa, with calls for an independent investigation into her treatment and broader concerns about the repression of civil society in Tanzania ahead of the elections.
Tanzanian authorities are yet to respond to the allegations.