US sanctions Tanzania police official, bars him over rights violations

Activists Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire Narrating their harrowing experiences in the hands of Tanzanian Authorities last Month. Mwangi claims he tortured and stripped naked and inserted all manner of objects from the rectum. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

The United States has sanctioned Tanzanian police official, Faustine Mafwele over alleged human rights abuses linked to the torture of activists Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire in May 2025.

In a statement, the US State Department said the designation was made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026, a measure that bars individuals implicated in gross human rights violations from entering the United States.

The State Department accused Mafwele, a senior assistant commissioner in the Tanzania Police Force, of involvement in the detention, torture and sexual assault of Uganda’s Agather Atuhaire and Kenya’s Boniface Mwangi.

“Based on credible information, the Department of State is designating Tanzanian Police Force Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustine Jackson Mafwele under Section 7031(c) for his involvement in gross violations of human rights,” the statement said.

The alleged abuses stem from events last year when Mwangi, Atuhaire and other activists, including People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua, were detained and denied entry into Tanzania while attempting to observe the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

After their release several days later, Mwangi, speaking at a press conference, alleged that he had been stripped naked, beaten on the soles of his feet, hung upside down and sexually assaulted. Atuhaire also alleged that she was tortured and raped.

The Kenyan activist was later found alive in Ukunda on May 22, 2025, after being held in Tanzania for more than three days, while Atuhaire was reportedly abandoned at the Mutukula border between Uganda and Tanzania a day later.

Other individuals detained and subsequently deported at Julius Nyerere International Airport included former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and activist Hanifa Adan.