‘We were told to strip naked, crawl and go wash off the blood’: Boniface Mwangi opens up on Tanzania ordeal

Activist Boniface Mwangi has delivered a chilling and unfiltered account of the brutal torture he and fellow Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire allegedly endured while in Tanzanian custody, calling out President Samia Suluhu by name.

Mwangi, who was released on Thursday after being held since Monday, revealed that he and Atuhaire had travelled to Dar es Salaam in solidarity with Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, but ended up victims of what he describes as a politically motivated and inhumane ordeal.

He narrated that the last time he was in the same space as Atuhaire was on the morning of Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Atuhaire has since been found dumped at the Mutukula border of Tanzania and Uganda.

“We had been tortured, and we were told to strip naked and to go bathe. We couldn't walk and were told to crawl and go wash off the blood,” Mwangi said. “We were handcuffed and blindfolded, so I didn't even see her, but I heard her groaning in pain as they barked orders at us.”

He added: “Any attempt to speak to each other during the night we were tortured was met with kicks and insults. We were removed from the torture location in different vehicles.”

Mwangi claims that the torture was orchestrated by a Tanzanian state security officer who followed them from Immigration offices to the Central Police Station and ordered their removal to a secret location for what was termed as “Tanzanian treatment.”

“That man assaulted me in the presence of three lawyers from Tanganyika Law Society and identifying him might help us find where Agather is being kept,” he said. “He scared the three lawyers, and they left us at Central Police Station, where we were removed while handcuffed and blindfolded.”

He described the said man as overweight, of average height, light brown skin, with wavy short hair and a sagging potbelly. On the day in question, Mwangi said, he wore a black suit, black shoes, and a white shirt without a tie, and that he allegedly reports directly to President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

In a separate and equally raw statement, Mwangi offered gratitude to those who pushed for his release while reiterating that Atuhaire still remains unaccounted for.

“Words can’t express my gratitude to all of you for raising your voices to get me released. I say ‘me’ because we are yet to know the whereabouts of my friend and comrade, Agather. We went through the worst form of torture and were threatened with public humiliation if we revealed what they did to us,” he narrated.

“You cannot torture us, however, and then dictate how we should react. We were detained, tortured, and treated worse than rabid dogs in the name of President Suluhu.”

Mwangi recounted his history of cross-border solidarity, attending court hearings and visiting jailed activists across the continent.

“We were there peacefully as members of East African Community to attend a court hearing in solidarity with Chadema’s party leader, Tundu Lissu,” he said.

“When the then Chadema’s Freeman Mbowe was in jail in the same Tanzania, l visited him. When Dr. Stella Nyanzi was jailed in Uganda, I went to see her. And when Bobi Wine was under house arrest, l went to visit him, too.”

Referencing Pan-Africanist ideals, Mwangi quoted Ghana’s first President: “As Kwame Nkurumah said, 'I’m not African because l was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me.’”

“I’m a Pan-Africanist, and l have trained and mentored activists in all four corners of our continent – from Arab to French-speaking and from English to Swahili-speaking nations,” he said.

Mwangi emphasized that their visit to Tanzania was intended to be brief — a one-day show of solidarity before heading to Uganda for another case involving opposition leader Kizza Besigye. But that plan was violently interrupted.

“Our arrest and detention should not stop the solidarity among African activists or deter us from showing up for each other. Dictators are united, and only our own unity can help democratize our respective countries.”

He laid responsibility squarely at President Suluhu’s feet: “Everything that happened to us in Tanzania was done in Samia Suluhu’s name, and we will ensure the world gets to know. We shall speak for the Tanzanian victims who are too afraid to speak.”

“What Suluhu did to us will be revealed to the world. We shall not be silenced by a torturous dictator who has her foot on the necks of the Tanzanian people.”