Kenyan journalist arrested at Tanzania border amid election protests
Kenyan journalist arrested at Tanzania border amid election protests
A Kenyan journalist is reported to have been arrested by individuals who identified themselves as Tanzanian police officers on Friday morning at the Lunga Lunga border in Kwale County.
The incident occurred as a group of Kenyan human rights activists visited the area to investigate reports of rights violations across the border.
The group said they had travelled to Vanga early Friday for a fact-finding mission when plainclothes officers confronted them near the Lunga Lunga–Horo Horo crossing and allegedly arrested Nyota FM journalist Shoka Juma.
Walid Sketty, an activist with Vocal Africa, said they were monitoring the situation when the arrest occurred.
“We are at Vanga, which is in Kwale County near the border of Kenya and Tanzania. We were with a journalist from Nyota FM named Shoka,” Sketty said. “Those who arrested him are not Kenyan police but officers who identified themselves as from Tanzania.”
Sketty said the journalist had committed no offence and called for his immediate release.
“We condemn the arrest of Shoka and are calling for his release because there is no wrong he has committed,” he said.
Francis Ouma, from Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), said the group had gone to the border after receiving distress calls and was confronted shortly after arriving.
“We have been at the Kenya-Tanzania border to assess the human rights situation because we have been receiving distress calls,” Ouma said. “Within a short time, the plainclothes officers from Tanzania arrested Shaban.”
Ouma said the officers identified themselves as Tanzanian military, prompting the group to flee for safety.
“One of them identified as from Jeshi la Ulinzi la Wananchi wa Tanzania,” he said. “We fear for his safety.”
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Another activist, Bradley Ouma, said they had only come to assess the situation when the arrest occurred.
“We had just come to do a fact-finding to assess how the situation is at the border,” Ouma said. “The Kenyan Government must intervene because the journalist was arrested by Tanzanian officers who were on Kenyan soil.”
The activists say they fled back to Kenya and still do not know the journalist’s whereabouts.
The incident comes amid ongoing protests in Tanzania following a disputed election. Demonstrations in Dar-es-Salaam and other towns have entered their third day, with reports of tear gas and gunfire as crowds defy curfew orders.
Several vehicles, police stations and a petrol station have been torched, and Amnesty International has reported at least two deaths linked to the unrest.
Opposition figures, activists and journalists have also been targeted, while the government has deployed the military and restricted internet access.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two main challengers were barred from running, drawing criticism from rights groups who say attacks and disappearances of critics have increased since she took office in 2021 following the death of John Magufuli.
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