Deutsche Welle

Agather Atuhaire during the 18th Annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards Ceremony at the White House on March, 4, 2024 in Washington, DC

Agather Atuhaire is a Ugandan lawyer and human rights defender focusing on eradicating corruption and maladministrationImage: Brendan 

Tanzania has released Ugandan lawyer and activist Agather Atuhaire, who had been in custody since Monday after attempting to attend a treason trial for an opposition leader.   

Ugandan rights group Agora Discourse posted on X on Friday that Atuhaire had been found.

"She was abandoned at the border by Tanzanian authorities," it said.

Its co-founder Spire Ssentongo told the AFP news agency that "Agather is under the care of family and friends."

"She was dumped at the border at night by the authorities and there are indications of torture," Ssentongo added.

Accusations of torture
Atuhaire is the second of two foreign activists — the other being Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi — who had been detained after arriving in Tanzania`s most populous city, Dar es Salaam, to attend the first court appearance of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

Mwangi is a prominent campaigner against corruption and police brutality in Kenya.

He was also found abandoned on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border, Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported.

"We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture," Mwangi told reporters on his return to Nairobi.

In a post on X, Mwangi said the last time he had been held together with Atuhaire was on Tuesday, when he had heard her groaning in pain after being tortured.

"Our (torturers) were acting on orders from a `state security` employee who came to Immigration offices and followed us to Central Police Station and ordered we should be taken to a secret location to be given a `Tanzanian treatment`," Mwangi said.

Tanzanian officials had not commented on the arrests of Atuhaire and Mwangi.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, however, warned earlier this week that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country`s affairs.

She urged security services "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here."

What`s behind the treason trial?
Lissu, with whom the two activists wanted to show solidarity, is the leader of the country`s main opposition party, Chadema.

He came second in Tanzania`s last presidential poll.

Lissu was arrested last month and charged with treason over an alleged speech calling on Tanzanians to rebel and disrupt the country`s presidential and parliamentary elections that are scheduled for October.

The government claims that encouraging citizens to boycott the election is tantamount to an act of rebellion.

Chadema was also disqualified from the elections after it refused to sign an electoral "code of conduct."

Growing crackdown on political opponents
The case has highlighted a growing crackdown on opponents of President Hassan, whose party has nominated her to stand again.

The 65-year-old leader became president after John Magufuli`s death in 2021.

Suluhu`s tenure began with optimism, pledging to reverse many of Magufuli`s controversial policies.

However, she faced mounting criticism over frequent arrests, abductions, and killings of opposition politicians.

Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year.