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Tanzania activist speaks out after being freed

A Tanzania journalist, and vocal critic of the government, Maria Sarungi, who was abducted on Sunday in Kenya has revealed that her government was behind the abduction.

Sarungi said part of the reasons for the abduction was about her whistleblowing activity in Kenya and revealing much about the abduction going on in Tanzania.

“I am sure part of the abduction was to get access into my devices, activities that I do online which includes doing whistleblowing and a lot about abductions around Tanzania,” she said.

The social justice campaigner said the other thing that she really felt was the reason for abduction was that they wanted to take her outside Nairobi and across the border.

A shaken up Sarungi said Tanzania is about to go for elections in 2025 and expects the abductions to increase to intimidate and silence critics of the government.

The Media personality said although she does not have solid evidence on whether it was a collaboration between some forces from her country and Kenya, the fact that a person sitting in front kept asking about her mobile password was good enough to conclude so.

She added she would not stop criticizing the government. “I will not stop. I will not relent. And if this was done to stop me from doing what I do, I will not stop,” Sarungi said.

The Tanzanian national urged the Kenyan authorities to ensure that they allow people to speak what they think affects them. She suspects that some of the people who abducted her were Kenya. This was because they kept speaking in English, but one person who was in the driver’s seat most of the time spoke in Kiswahili and she suspected he was a Tanzanian.

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The activist said she has never felt threatened in Kenya. “What makes me feel safe is the Kenyan people,’ she said. She said he was kidnapped by three armed men and taken into a black car in the Kilimani neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon.

Sarungi has been a fierce critic of President Samia Suluhu’s government. She said there’s no doubt that this government and the thugs in her security service and police are behind this.

Amnesty International, Kenya, Kenya Human Rights and LSK condemned the issue. 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.”

She assures that LSK will pursue answers from all relevant authorities on why this happened. 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.

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