UN Experts Condemn Tanzania’s Opaque Handling of Post-Election Violence Inquiry Findings

The post-election violence of October 2025 was characterised by the use of excessive and lethal force by security forces, internet shutdowns and the intimidation and harassment of journalists and human rights defenders across Tanzania. After one year, no State officials have been charged.

“There has been no justice or accountability for the hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and those subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The answers they seek remain in hidden reports,” the experts said.

Withholding the full report undermines the rights to truth and justice. We call on the Government to make the report publicly available in its entirety without further delay.

The commission includes Grazyna Baranowska (Chair-Rapporteur), Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez (Vice-Chair), Gabriella Citroni, Aua Baldé and Mohammed Al-Obaidi, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Other members include Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Leopoldo Maldonado Gutiérrez, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

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The detention of Tanzania’s opposition leader Tundu Lissu has been found to be arbitrary by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
PHOTO/UGC.

Others include; Andrea Bolaños Vargas, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Pau Pérez Sales, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and Matthew Gillett (Chair-Rapporteur), Ganna Yudkivska (Vice-Chair on Communications), Ethan Hee-Seok Shin (Vice-Chair on Follow Up), Miriam Estrada-Castillo and Mumba Malila, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

In August 2026, a second Commission was established, and its work remains ongoing. There is no detailed information about its mandate or scope of work, and its collaboration with victims has reportedly been limited. The experts call on this second Commission and on Tanzanian authorities to clarify the focus and objective of its work and to make its findings publicly available once complete.

The experts expressed alarm over the alleged ongoing arbitrary detention of hundreds of persons who remain in prolonged pre-trial detention under charges of treason and terrorism-related offenses, and reports concerning mass graves, ongoing enforced disappearances, bodies removed from morgues and the use of protest footage by police to identify protesters.

“Victims continue to face a grave and worsening human rights situation, compounded by further restrictions on civic space. Victims’ families, civil society, journalists and human rights defenders reportedly face threats, intimidation and surveillance,” they said.

“Repression against activists, human rights defenders, journalists and supporters of the opposition party is creating a chilling effect. Many who flee to neighbouring countries continue to face transnational repression,” the experts noted.

The opposition’s National Chairman, Tindu Antipas Mughwai Lissu, has been in continuous custody since April 2025, charged with treason—a capital offence. Lissu’s detention has been deemed arbitrary by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. He awaits a court judgment scheduled for 6 November 2026, having begun a hunger strike on 26 October 2026 to protest legal barriers to his lawyers’ access.

“We condemn the reported escalation of repression against civil society organisations, journalists, human rights defenders and legal professionals who have scrutinised the trial, and call for an immediate halt of and accountability for attacks on the independence of judges, lawyers and prosecutors,” they stated.

The experts have formally raised their concerns with the Tanzanian Government.

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