Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Tanzania.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Tanzania. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Tanzania U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/tanzania/
[accessed 10 August
2021] DISAPPEARANCE There were reports
of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities. There were
numerous cases of police using “snatch and grab” tactics where authorities
arrested individuals who temporarily disappeared and then reappeared in
police stations only after social media pressure. The government made no
efforts to investigate or punish such acts. TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT There were reports
that police officers, prison guards, and soldiers abused, threatened, or
otherwise mistreated civilians, suspected criminals, and prisoners. These
abuses often involved beatings. On September 25,
Dar es Salaam police arrested three senior
officials from the opposition political party ACT-Wazalendo
at their election headquarters. An ACT-Wazalendo
representative reported that one of the officials was physically mistreated
while in custody. The law allows caning.
Local government officials and courts occasionally used caning as a
punishment for both juvenile and adult offenders. Caning and other corporal
punishment were also used routinely in schools. On April 18, police
raided a number of bars in Dar es Salaam, including
one called “The Great,” where police caned patrons, staff, and managers for
ignoring Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda’s order
against visiting bars during the height of COVID-19 prevention measures.
Video from Arusha taken in April showed an unidentified Maasai
man, acting in his capacity as a security guard, caning passersby on the
street for not maintaining social distancing guidelines. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prisons and prison conditions
remained harsh and life threatening due to food shortages, gross
overcrowding, physical abuse, and inadequate sanitary conditions. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Arrests often preceded investigations, and accused persons frequently
remained in pretrial detention–known as “remand”–for years before going to
trial, usually with no credit for pretrial confinement at the time of
sentencing. There is no trial clock or statute of limitations. Prosecutors
obtained continuances based on a general statement that the investigation was
not complete. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, approximately 50
percent of the prison population consisted of pretrial detainees. Detainees
generally waited three to four years for trial due to a lack of judges, an
inadequate judicial budget, and the lengthy time for police investigations. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/tanzania/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? Reports of abuse
and torture of suspects in police custody are common, and police have been accused
of extrajudicial killings and other violence over the past three years.
Several high-profile abductions and disappearances from 2018 remained
unresolved in 2019. Tanzania
is Kidnapping and Torturing LGBTQ People Matt Baume,
intomore.com, 12 November 2018 www.intomore.com/impact/tanzania-is-kidnapping-and-torturing-lgbtq-people [accessed 22
November 2018] That followed a
raid last year in which 12 people were seized at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, accused of promoting same-sex relationships. Those who have been
held on similar charges in the past reported police brutality that included
beating, sexual assault, and being forced to crawl through sewage. In Zanzibar, a
semi-autonomous region off the coast of Tanzania, 10 people were kidnapped by
security forces last week, accused of homosexuality, and subjected to
physical torture. Police chief Suleiman Hassan described forcible anal abuse
by authorities, supposedly to obtain evidence of homosexuality. Alleged Brutality
and Torture during Tanzania’s Anti-Poaching Operation Juliet Onyango,
Zegabi East Africa News, 10 January 2014 www.zegabi.com/articles/?p=6744 [accessed 12 Jan
2014] According to
Lembeli, victims comprised local leaders who were humiliated in the presence
of their constituents. Lembeli cited the instance of Peter Samwel, a councilor
in Meatu district. The councilor alleged that security forces tied his legs
and arms with a rope and hung him upside down for a number of hours. In another case, a
woman from Bariadi district claimed that three soldiers raped her at
gunpoint. On the same note, a 38-year
old farmer residing in Ulanga district has also made public accusations
against security forces. He alleges assault, as well as severe emotional and
physical torture. The farmer alleged
that he woke up and found his home surrounded by anti-poaching officers who
accused him of illicit hunting. During an interview with Inter Press Service,
he claimed that the officers stripped him, poured salt on him, and whipped
him in the presence of his 11-year old son. Tanzania: Police
Abuse, Torture, Impede HIV Services Human Rights Watch,
Dar es Salaam, 18 June 2013 www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/18/tanzania-police-abuse-torture-impede-hiv-services [accessed 11 Feb
2014] The 98-page report,
“‘Treat Us Like Human Beings:’ Discrimination against Sex Workers, Sexual and
Gender Minorities, and People Who Use Drugs in Tanzania,”documents abuses
including torture, rape, assault, arbitrary arrest, and extortion. Torture claims
against Ukonga prison denied Dickson Ng`hily, IPP
Media, 29 March 2013 www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=52901 [accessed 30 March
2013] The negative
perception of the country’s prisons is cited as a cause for the unfolding
accusations of torture at the Ukonga maximum security prison in Dar es
Salaam. One of the top
prison officers at Ukonga prison who asked not to be named told our reporter
in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that his prison is seen as inhuman and
wretched place. “…the public has to
know that the Ukonga prison is not a place for inmates’ torture and other
appalling conditions leading to their death. However inmates lose all of
their freedom and have to follow very strict rules of conduct and order,” the
source admitted. He added: “When the
inmates arrive here, they are taken for medical checkups so as to establish
how fit they are and thus determine the kind of duties they are to be
assigned…we provide them with food, mattresses and sheets as provide by the
Prisons Act of 1967.” “…after all, we are
being regularly monitored by human rights teams which normally come and stay
with the inmates even for two days. When they are in, prison warders do not
interfere. We leave them to talk with the prisoners freely,” clarified the
source. He added: “We
therefore, have a good reputation, in fact we don’t want to discolour our
image … I remember a group of seven international human right activists who
visited here … they were amazed to see the environment in which the inmates
live.” Early this month
The Guardian reported allegations of extreme torture against inmates at the
Ukonga Prison which were however vehemently denied by the authorities.” Tanzania: Harsh
prison conditions/ Torture or Ill treatment / Death penalty Amnesty International
AI, 13 January 2005, Index number: AFR 56/001/2005 www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr56/001/2005/en/ [accessed 15 January
2019] Download the Report
at www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/80000/afr560012005en.pdf [accessed 15 January
2019] On 3 January, at
least 15 prisoners sentenced to death in the main Ukonga
maximum security prison in the capital, Dar es
Salaam, started a hunger strike protesting about their harsh prison
conditions. They are reportedly protesting at a poor prison diet and being
severely beaten whilst being held in overcrowded prison cells. Amnesty
International is concerned for their safety. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=tanzania+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 15 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61596.htm [accessed 14
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61596.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there continued to be reports that police
officers tortured, threatened, and otherwise mistreated suspected criminals
and prisoners during the year. Beatings and floggings were the methods most
commonly used. According to press reports, more police were prosecuted during
the year for abusing prisoners than in the previous year. In September the
government formed a commission to investigate torture allegations involving
senior prison officers in the Geita district of
Mwanza region. The officers were accused of torturing, beating, and
sodomizing two members of sungusungu, a traditional
militia. No additional information was available at year's end. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/tanzania [accessed 14
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] Tanzania’s judiciary
has displayed signs of autonomy after decades of subservience to the
one-party CCM regime, but it remains subject to considerable political
influence. Arrest and pretrial detention rules are often ignored. Prison
conditions are harsh, and police abuse is said to be common. According to the
International Centre for Prison Studies, at the end of 2006, there were
44,000 inmates in the country’s prisons, although government sources have
indicated that the facilities’ collective capacity is only 23,000. Questions
have been raised regarding the safety and health of prisoners, including
minors and women, who have been subjected to sexual harassment and human
rights abuses. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Tanzania
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