(Nairobi) - The Tanzanian government has intensified political repression, raising grave concerns that the general elections scheduled for October 29, 2025, will be free and fair, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities have suppressed political opposition and critics of the ruling party, stifled the media, and failed to ensure the electoral commission's independence.

"Tanzania's authorities should take immediate measures to protect the integrity of the October elections, which are currently at great risk," said Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities need to stop muzzling dissenting voices and the media, and instead engage in meaningful reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections."

From July to September 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed remotely or in person 24 civil society activists, lawyers, religious leaders, academics, journalists, and opposition party members, including 8 victims of abuses, from mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Human Rights Watch wrote to the Tanzanian Police Force, Independent National Electoral Commission, Communications Regulatory Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 19 to present the research and to ask for information on the allegations, but has not received any response at the time of publication.

"The right to life of people who have different opinions from the government is endangered," a religious leader who said he was assaulted for his activism, told Human Rights Watch. "People should be able to criticize the government. It should not endanger their lives. Abductions, disappearances, and some killings which cannot be explained. And you cannot get an explanation from the government."

Human Rights Watch documented 10 cases of politically motivated assault, harassment, abduction, and torture, and the impact of extensive restrictions on traditional and social media.

In one case, on May 2, unidentified individuals beat and abducted the prominent opposition party activist Mpaluka Nyagali, known as Mdude, from his residence in Mbeya, in southwestern Tanzania, his wife told the media. The Mbeya High Court dismissed the wife's habeas corpus petition on July 9, and Mdude's whereabouts remain unknown. The police denied involvement in his abduction.

On June 16, in Dar es Salaam, unidentified assailants beat Japhet Matarra, a frequent critic of the government on X (formerly known as Twitter), with a metal bar until he lost consciousness. A credible source told Human Rights Watch that while he awaited surgery at a hospital, people dressed as doctors entered his room and attacked him. He shouted at them and they fled. Photographs seen by Human Rights Watch show injuries to his jaw, and more than a month after the attack, he still had difficulty speaking.

Human Rights Watch research corroborated findings of Tanzanian human rights organizations. The Legal and Human Rights Centre documented about 100 cases of abductions and enforced disappearances between 2015 and February 2025. The Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition recorded 48 attacks on human rights defenders, activists, and others in 2024.

In June the police responded to the growing number of missing people by issuing a statement listing those they alleged had orchestrated their own kidnappings. The list excluded high-profile cases of opposition and civil society members, reinforcing concerns about the credibility and impartiality of government investigations.

The government has also repressed opposition parties and their members. In April, the authorities arrested Tundu Lissu, the leader of the main opposition party, Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema), during a rally. He has been on trial on fabricated charges, including treason, which is non-bailable and carries the death penalty. A Chadema official attending Lissu's trial said, "On a number of occasions, especially when I go to attend the court sessions of our national chairman, I am harassed: they stop you from accessing court premises, they beat you."

Another opposition party member said: "I don't feel safe being a politician in Tanzania. I don't feel free to criticize the government ... [W]e find ourselves under constant attack by the police."

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which, despite its name is appointed by the president and its decisions cannot be challenged in court, barred Chadema from the elections for not signing the controversial electoral code of conduct. In June, the High Court then fully suspended Chadema's political activities over an unrelated dispute. The electoral commission has since blocked the nomination of Luhaga Mpina, the presidential candidate of the opposition Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo).

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu's government pledged at the United Nations Human Rights Council in June to uphold human rights and democratic principles throughout the election period. Since then, however, the government has not adopted the needed reforms.

The electoral commission's banning of opposition political parties and opposition presidential candidates effectively removes competition facing the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, Human Rights Watch said.

The government has continued its crackdown on the media in the lead up to elections, restricting the rights to freedom of expression and information, and exerting a chilling effect on media outlets.

In recent months, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, United Nations human rights experts, and the European Parliament have also raised concerns regarding the pre-election environment in Tanzania. The institutions cited repression of rallies and peaceful assemblies, enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrests, restrictions on access to information, and freedom of the media and speech, including blocking access to social media sites.

"The electoral commission's disqualification of presidential candidates and political parties raises questions as to whether any elections in Tanzanian will reflect the will of voters," Masiko-Mpaka said. "The government needs to urgently stop repressing the political opposition, impartially investigate attacks and abductions of human rights activists, opposition members, lawyers and religious leaders, and ensure the electoral commission's independence."

Harassment, Assaults, Abductions and Torture

Human Rights Watch documented 10 cases in which Tanzanian authorities harassed, assaulted, abducted or tortured human rights activists, opposition party members, lawyers, and religious leaders since mid-2024.

On June 23, 2024, in Dar es Salaam, police arbitrarily arrested Edgar Mwakabela, an activist known as Sativa who has spoken out about shrinking civic and political space in the country. They took him to a police station where they removed his clothes, beat him with iron bars, and deprived him of food, water, and access to the toilet. The next day, they transferred him to a police station in Arusha, in northern Tanzania, and detained him for three days. On June 26, they took him by car and drove for three to four hours, then beat him and abandoned him, unconscious, in Katavi National Park, about 1,300 kilometers east of Dar es Salaam.

The media reported that on September 6, 2024, unidentified armed men abducted Ali Kibao, a Chadema secretariat member and retired military intelligence officer, in Dar es Salaam after two white police Landcruiser vehicles blocked the bus in which he was travelling. His body was found a day later on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. Chadema's then-chairperson told the media that the postmortem indicated that Kibao had been severely beaten and doused with acid. While President Hassan reportedly ordered an investigation into the matter, there have been no arrests for the killing.

A credible source said that on January 12, 2025, Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a prominent media owner and critic of President Hassan, was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya. She was blindfolded, handcuffed, and could not see her abductors, who kept asking for the passcode to her phones. During a news conference after her release, Sarungi said, "I'm sure that the reason for the abduction was to get access to my social media and [because of] the whistleblowing job that I do."

On June 20, ACT-Wazalendo women's wing chairperson, Janeth Rithe, presented herself to the police after they came to the party's headquarters in Dar es Salaam looking for her. An ACT-Wazalendo member and media reports indicated she was arrested for saying during a campaign rally that the president was wrong about the state of Tanzania's economy and that the ruling party was running a police state. The police detained her for over 24 hours, then released her on June 23, without charge.

Religious leaders have also faced attacks after speaking out. On the night of April 30, , unidentified assailants struck Father Charles Kitima, a prominent Catholic priest and government critic, on the head at a conference center in Dar es Salaam. The attack occurred hours after a video circulated in which he called for reforms before elections. He reported the incident to the police, but no one has been arrested.

In June, the government withdrew the registration of one of the largest Pentecostal churches in the country after its founder, Bishop Josephat Gwajima, a parliament member of the ruling CCM party, spoke out against increasing abductions and other human rights violations. The Home Affairs Ministry said these remarks sought to pit the government against its citizens. A human rights activist said: "Bishop Gwajima from CCM made it clear that he is against the kidnappings, and all churches linked to him have been closed down."

A lawyer said that he had survived three attempted abductions, including two in 2024. During the latest attempt in December, two men in civilian clothes and no identity cards approached him while he was parking at his office and introduced themselves as the police. He fled on foot, but the two men confiscated laptops and documents from his office. He said he was targeted because he brought cases against the government.

A knowledgeable source said police reviewed CCTV footage and confirmed that the men who approached him were police but claimed that it was a case of misidentification. During the attempted abduction earlier in 2024, the police also claimed a case of mistaken identity.

Lack of Independence of the National Electoral Commission

In April, the Independent National Electoral Commission banned Chadema from offering candidates in the upcoming election and in by-elections until 2030, reinforcing concerns about the commission's independence. The commission banned the party because of its refusal to sign a code of conduct by April 12, 2025, although the relevant law, the National Elections Act, does not clearly state the timeline.

The commission's decision to disqualify ACT-Wazalendo's presidential candidate, Luhaga Mpina, added further concerns. Mpina had previously served as a government minister under former President John Magufuli. The electoral commission's decision followed the Registrar of Political Party's ruling that Mpinga's nomination violated ACT-Wazalendo's internal rules and procedures. On September 11, the High Court ruled that under the constitution, the commission is not obligated to accept instructions from authorities, and must accept Mpina's nomination form. While the commission did so on September 13, two days later it announced that it had disqualified Mpina following an objection from the attorney general.

Longstanding concerns about the electoral commission's independence stem from article 74 of Tanzania's constitution, which provides for the president to appoint and dismiss commission members, including the chairperson and vice chairperson. The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and other actors have raised concerns that the courts are not able to consider cases challenging the commission's decisions under article 74. In February 2024, the parliament passed a set of laws to reform the framework governing elections. However, these did not address presidential appointments of commission members and the domestic courts' lack of jurisdiction over commission decisions.

Restrictions on the Right to Vote in Zanzibar

Opposition party officials and activists said that thousands of voters in Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous island, have been unable to get identity cards required for voter registration. The cards are essential to access many government services, including registering to vote. Even those who successfully register have trouble getting their cards because the authorities require people to collect them from district offices, whereas previously they were available in their localities.

A human rights defender said: "[I]f the system perceives you as someone voting for the opposition, you do not get a Zanzibari ID. You need someone in local government to sign you off as a resident in that area. The local government official in the area knows you very well. And they know where you come from. If it is a family that traditionally votes for the opposition, you will not get it."

Restrictions on Media

The Tanzania authorities severely restrict the media. The Cybercrimes Act of 2015, the Electronic and Postal Communications Act of 2022, and the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulation of 2020 give the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) broad discretion to suspend media using vague terms such as "deceptive, misleading, and inaccurate information."

In October 2024, the communications authority suspended online licenses of three leading newspapers - the Citizen, Mwananchi, and Mwanaspoti - for 30 days after they published an animated clip on increased abductions in the country.

In May, the communications authority shut down over 80,000 websites, social media accounts, blogs, and online platforms for publishing "unethical content that poses a risk to children's mental health."

Since May, the government has blocked access to X, claiming that the site promotes pornographic materials. The authorities also restricted access to the social audio app Clubhouse and the Telegram messaging service.

Effective September 6, the communications authority suspendedJamiiForums, a Tanzanian online platform that facilitates public discourse and whistleblowing, for 90 days. The authority said the platform had "published content that misled the public, insulted, and disrespected the government and the President of the United Republic of Tanzania."

One media owner said that they had received several letters from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority demanding that they take down content.

A journalist who was told twice by the communications authority to remove content, including an article about families whose relatives had been abducted, said: "If the regulator asks you to take down a certain content, you can not do so at your own risk. You can have your license revoked or website taken offline, and people will no longer be able to access it."

A media owner who fled Tanzania said that he had received several death threats for the social media platform he operates. "I know there are repercussions and that is why I had to flee," he said. They do not know where I am ... I have been told to 'stay safe' wherever I am, even by people from the ruling party." He reported that authorities had phoned his family several times to ask for his whereabouts.

The Chanzo, a digital media outlet in Tanzania that delivers independent public-interest journalism, issued a statement saying they were taking down an article about a May 24 news conference on abductions in Tanzania by Bishop Gwajima after the communications authority issued a directive.

Another journalist said that the authorities informally called media outlets, including his, to remove the bishop's news conference: "Many took it down but we did not," he said. "When we failed to do that, they went to the regulatory body [TCRA]. They [people from the state house] are sometimes from the president office. I know they are from there because I know they work there. The TCRA is the big dangerous dog - the pit bull - that they would just unleash on you."

"If we want to be honest," said one journalist. "There is no space for independent journalism."

Source: Human Rights Watch