Maria Tsehai: Tanzanian activist abducted in Nairobi released

Maria Sarungi Tsehai, the Tanzanian activist and media editor kidnapped in Nairobi’s Kilimani neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon was released later in the evening.

Tsehai was abducted by three hooded and armed men at Chaka place, where she had gone to a hair salon. The men blocked her taxi some minutes past 3 p.m. and bundled her into a waiting Toyota Noah before driving her away.

She was released later in the evening after human rights groups such as Amnesty International Kenya and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) took up the matter.

“Thank you very much, dear Kenyans and Tanzanians. I am safe and God is good,” Tsehai said in a recorded video shared after her release. “I will say thank you properly tomorrow.”

Tsehai is a vocal critic of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu and often publishes critical articles on her blog and social media accounts. She has a following of over 1.3 million on X alone.

Ms Tsehai’s husband, David, said following his wife’s release: “This has been the worst ordeal of my life. I did not know whether she was alive or dead.”

“She is a fierce critic of Samia Suluhu’s government so there is no doubt that this government and the thugs in her security service and police are behind this,” Mr Tsehai told Citizen TV.

He said he and Maria have been living in Nairobi after fleeing Kenya’s southern neighbour during the regime of Suluhu's authoritarian predecessor John Magufuli, who issued an arrest warrant against the activist.

LSK President Faith Odhiambo described the activist's abduction as “unfortunate”, saying it “paints a worrying picture of the state of our country's human rights context.”

“We will pursue answers from all relevant authorities on why this happened,” she said.

Tanzania has cracked down on opposition figures ahead of elections later this year.

Sunday’s case follows a similar ordeal in November where Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye was abducted in Nairobi and taken to Kampala where he is accused of illegal firearm possession and security-related offences, something critics of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s government deem politically motivated.

A month before that, in October, four Turkish refugees were similarly abducted in Nairobi by masked men and forcibly returned to their home country, which Kenya’s foreign ministry justified as its “robust historical and strategic relations” with Turkey.