Tanzanian Human Rights Defender Abducted In Kenya

January 12, 2025 54 4

Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a Tanzanian media personality and human rights defender, has reportedly been abducted in Nairobi.

According to a report by Amnesty Kenya, Tsehai was picked up by three armed men at Chaka Place in Kilimani on Sunday at around 3:15 pm.

“Ms Maria S Tsehai, Tanzanian independent media editor and human rights defender kidnapped by three armed men in a black Noah from Chaka Place, Kilimani, Nairobi, Kenya at 3.15 pm today. Teams on site. Spread the word, let’s keep Maria safe,” the statement by Amnesty Kenya read.

Tsehai is a media and communications expert and a tough critic of President Samia Suluhu who does not shy away from writing articles highlighting the rot in the Tanzanian government.

With a whopping 1.5 million followers on X, she also uses the platform to expose the same.

In her last post a few hours before her alleged abduction, Tsehai revealed that the Tanzanian government was importing two airplanes; a brand new one for the VIP in Tanzania and a used one to be handed over to Air Tanzania as a passenger plane.

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the Parliament’s decision to pass the budget allowing the acquisition of the VIP jet when common Tanzanians had bigger issues to worry about.

“Our Parliament is useless. How could you pass this budget? Mothers are dying during childbirth and you are approving billions to buy a plane for VIPS?” part of her post read.

It has not been confirmed when she arrived in Kenya or what business she was attending before her alleged abduction.

This marks the second time a vocal East African activist has been kidnapped from an affluent neighborhood in Nairobi in barely three months.

On Saturday, November 16, 2024, Uganda’s opposition leader Kizza Besigye was abducted from Riverside Drive in Nairobi and transported to Uganda where he faces national security charges in a military court.

This development comes at a time when a spate of abductions is plaguing Kenyan youth, especially those who are using social media to criticise the government.

Source: Kenyans.co.ke