The United States has sanctioned Tanzanian Police Force Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustine Jackson Mafwele over alleged human rights abuses against Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist Agather Atuhaire.
In a statement, U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions were imposed under Section 7031(c) following “credible information” linking Mafwele to gross human rights violations.
“One year ago, members of the Tanzanian Police Force detained, tortured, and sexually assaulted Ugandan Agather Atuhaire and Kenyan Boniface Mwangi,” Rubio said, referring to their May 2025 detention in Dar es Salaam while observing the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
The sanctions make Mafwele ineligible to enter the United States.
Atuhaire, reflecting on the ordeal, said: “A year later, we are yet to recover from it.” She revealed she still suffers severe foot pain and requires doctor-prescribed footwear. “In March the pain was so bad and I was given cortisone shots,” she said.
She also accused Mafwele of threatening them during detention. “He told them he will do whatever he wants to us and there is nothing anyone will do,” she claimed.
During a June 2025 press conference, the duo said they had travelled to Dar es Salaam to monitor court proceedings involving Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu, a case that attracted regional and international attention.
Mwangi alleged they were beaten, blindfolded and sexually assaulted after being transferred between police stations.
“They told me to strip naked… they tied me upside down. They started beating my feet,” Mwangi recalled, adding that the attackers forced him to say “Asante Samia” during the abuse.
They narrated how they were forcefully taken from their hotel rooms on May 18, driven to one police station after another, questioned by immigration officers and eventually handed to their tormenters.
“We were transferred to a police station where we found a guy called Mafwele. The beating continued in the presence of three lawyers. At that station, Mafwele said he is going to rape Agather,” Mwangi recalled at the time.
“When the lawyers left us they did not tell our families that we are being beaten, threatened and harassed. Because Mafwele, in front of the lawyers asked if I was circumcised. He said they would circumcise me again.”
At the Central Police Station, an unknown gang walked in. The activists were blindfolded and pushed into a Landcruiser which drove off for about 20 minutes. They were ushered into a room that became their torture chamber.
“They told me to strip naked. When I stripped, they removed my handcuffs. I was grabbed by around four men, they lifted me up so fast, and tied me upside down. They started beating my feet. They put my underwear in my mouth, they played Gospel music in the car to drown my pain,” he narrated.
He said he was then sexually assaulted, ‘in the name of Samia’.
“They would ask me to say I am feeling nice, and say ‘Asante Samia’. I started bleeding. All this time they are saying they are recording what they are doing to me,” the prominent Kenyan activist shared.
Atuhaire recalled that their tormenters used objects to sexually assault them, all the while handcuffed and blindfolded, as pain was also inflicted on their feet.
“The people had come with one instruction. ‘Inflict as much pain as you can,” she said.
After the torture, they spent the night on a cold floor before being separately transferred to a different location the next morning.
The two activists, alongside seven civil society organisations, have since filed a case at the East African Court of Justice seeking compensation, public apologies and accountability from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
