
Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai has been released after being abducted in Nairobi by three armed men, according to her husband, who blames Tanzania’s national intelligence service for the incident.
A human rights advocate and vocal critic of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Sarungi Tsehai was kidnapped on the afternoon of Sunday, January 12, in the Kilimani neighborhood, as reported by Amnesty International.
“I am now safe, many thanks to everyone,” she posted on X just a few hours after her release.
Her brief detention has raised concerns about the alleged targeting of critics by both Tanzanian and Kenyan authorities. The couple had sought refuge in Nairobi four years prior after escaping Tanzania.
“It was the scariest moment of my life,” her husband, David Tsehai, stated in a video shared by the Law Society of Kenya late Sunday. “There is no doubt in my mind it is the thugs of the Tanzania Information and Security Services (TISS) who are behind this. ”
Amnesty International researcher Roland Ebole described Sarungi Tsehai’s abduction as a clear instance of “transnational repression” occurring in Kenya, although Kenyan officials reject such claims.