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Tanzania police chief Faustine Mafwele
The United States Department of State has sanctioned Tanzanian Police Force (TPF) senior assistant commissioner Faustine Jackson Mafwele over alleged involvement in gross human rights violations.
In May 2025, Ugandan journalist and activist Agather Atuhaire and Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi were arrested in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where they had travelled to observe the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
The two activists spent several days in detention, during which they were allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted before being released following mounting pressure from the international community.
Mwangi said that during his detention, he was stripped naked, hung upside down, beaten on the feet, and sexually assaulted, while Atuhaire also alleged that she was tortured and raped while in custody in Tanzania.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a statement, said Mafwele had been sanctioned “based on credible information that he was involved in gross violations of human rights.”
Under the sanctions, Mafwele and his immediate family members are now ineligible to enter the United States. Atuhaire welcomed the sanctions in a post on her X account.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Our tormentor and that of many other Tanzanians has been sanctioned by the US Department,” Atuhaire said.
“It gives me hope that one day it will be more than just sanctions he will have to contend with, but be behind bars to pay for his crimes and to save people from his criminality. We hope that the regional bodies we petitioned will also pronounce themselves soon,” Atuhaire added.
Mafwele becomes the first senior government official under President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration to face foreign sanctions.
Related
, https://observer.ug/news/us-sanctions-tanzania-police-chief-over-torture-of-ugandan-kenyan-activists/
