Activists give Suluhu 24-hour ultimatum to release Boniface Mwangi

A section of rights campaigners has given Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu’s administration 24 hours to release the detained Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi, failure to which they will head to the neighbouring country.

Mwangi was arrested at his hotel in Tanzania where he had planned to attend opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s treason trial on Monday.

His wife Njeri said Mwangi was taken from the Serena Hotel alongside Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire.

They spent the night at the central police station in Dar es Salaam, according to his lawyer Jebra Kambole.

Njeri on Tuesday morning said she had not been able to contact him since his arrest.

Addressing journalists in Nairobi later in the day, members of the Kongamano la Mapinduzi, which describes itself as a “political coalition of leftist Kenyan individuals, organisations, initiatives and movements,” condemned Tanzanian authorities for what they termed as suppression of democratic freedoms.

“Our comrade Agatha and Boniface are still held in Tanzania by the state, we can't speak with them they don't have phones but we have our comrade activists in Tanzania following up the matter,” said Don Githuku.

The group urged the Tanzanian leader, whom they branded an “oppressor”, to order the release of all activists held in her country.

“Oppressive leaders, your time is up! We want Boniface back today or else, all of us will come to Tanzania so you can deport us again,” Githuku said.

“We are giving Suluhu 24 hours to release them, failure to which we will occupy the Tanzania High Commission. And that's not all, we will go to Tanzania!”

The group accused Kenya’s President William Ruto, Tanzania’s Suluhu and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni of conniving to clamp down on opposition.

“We are Africans, East Africans and we have a right to work with each other. We do not have a problem with each other as citizens of East Africa, it is the presidents. It is shocking that our Jumuiya has been hijacked by three culprits,” said Githuku.

Suluhu on Monday said foreign activists would not be allowed to “interfere” in the country's affairs after several tried to attend Lissu’s trial.

"We have started to observe a trend in which activists from within our region are attempting to intrude and interfere in our affairs," Hassan said in a televised speech during the launch of the country’s new foreign policy.

Suluhu urged the country’s security and defence organs “not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here."

Her comments came just hours after several Kenyan rights activists were denied entry to Tanzania and deported to Nairobi.

PLP leader and former Justice Minister Martha Karua and former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga were among those detained when they landed at Tanzania's Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, to observe Lissu’s case hearing.

In Uganda, opposition leader Kizza Besigye is also on trial for treason after being kidnapped in Kenya and taken across the border.