Tanzania: Authorities Weaponize Counterterrorism Laws to Restrict Civic Space Amid Pervasive Impunity Over Violent Election Crackdown

What the report says

Amnesty International says Tanzanian authorities have not held anyone accountable for violence by security forces during the crackdown that followed the 2025 general election. In a report published on the first anniversary of that crackdown, the rights group said hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured, while the government has kept the Commission of Inquiry’s findings from public view and continued to restrict civic space.

The organization said it documented abuses over the past year against opposition supporters, journalists, civil society actors and even some ruling-party critics. Those alleged violations include arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, abductions, torture or other ill-treatment, and limits on free expression and peaceful assembly. Amnesty also said some detainees were charged under counterterrorism laws, which it argued have been used to intimidate critics and discourage dissent.

Amnesty pointed to several individual cases it said illustrate the wider pattern, including missing opposition youth leader Ibrahim Myovella, the abduction of former ruling-party official Mashaka Nestory Kindikwa, and the assault of Tundu Lissu’s aide David Djumbe. It also described the arrest and detention of people accused of supporting protests, including university students and CHADEMA members, some of whom were later charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The report said Tanzanian authorities did not respond to Amnesty’s request for comment.

The article adds that President Samia Suluhu has since created another commission to examine the violence and missing persons. Amnesty said any such process should be independent, transparent and made public, in order to address alleged impunity and restore trust in accountability.