Family of missing Tanzania government critic demands answers

Former Tanzania Ambassador Humprey Polepole, and a government critic who has been missing. [Sourced]

The family of a former Tanzanian ambassador-turned-government-critic filed a petition in court on Thursday to demand information on his whereabouts after saying he was abducted from his home.

Humphrey Polepole resigned in July as ambassador to Cuba and released a damning letter of resignation in which he criticised increasing authoritarianism in Tanzania.

The government has cracked down on critics and opponents ahead of elections on October 29, in which President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seeking re-election.

Polepole's family on Monday accused police of taking the ex-diplomat from his home in Dar es Salaam.

One video released on social media by the family showed the home with broken doors and a floor stained with blood.

A lawyer representing the family, Peter Kibatala, told reporters that the family had filed a petition demanding explanations from the attorney general, head of public prosecutions, and police chief.

"The family's effort to get Polepole has been unfruitful, and now we request the court to intervene," said Kibatala, speaking alongside the family.

"Polepole's mother wants to know the fate of her son," he said, adding that the case will continue next Wednesday.

Amnesty International said this week that it was "deeply alarmed" that Polepole might have been forcibly disappeared and possibly assaulted."

He had been living outside Tanzania since his resignation, but returned home about a month ago and was staying in a rented house until his abduction, his family told AFP.

Hassan took office following the sudden death of her authoritarian predecessor, John Magufuli.

She was initially praised for easing the restrictions he had imposed on the opposition and the media, but has since reversed course, with the nation facing renewed repression, including dozens of abductions targeting government critics.

In his resignation letter, Polepole said: "I can no longer be part of a leadership structure that does not uphold the Constitution of the country... nor the principles of justice, ethics, human dignity and accountability to citizens."