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The United States has imposed sanctions on the Tanzanian police chief, effectively banning him from entering the country due to alleged human rights abuses by the police force.
The sanctions, announced on Thursday, come in the wake of the October general election, where President Samia Suluhu Hassan secured a full term with an overwhelming 97% of the vote. The election period was marked by a severe clampdown on opposition figures.
In December, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States was reassessing its relationship with Tanzania due to incidents of repression and election-related violence.
Rubio explained that the decision to sanction Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Faustine Jackson Mafwele was based on credible evidence linking him to human rights violations.
“One year ago, members of the Tanzanian police force detained, tortured, and sexually assaulted Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire and Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi, who were in Dar es Salaam to observe the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu,” Rubio noted in a statement.
The Ugandan and Kenyan activists were arrested and detained in Tanzania in May last year.
They alleged that they were tortured by Mafwele while in detention before being abandoned near the Kenya–Tanzania border.
A commission Hassan appointed to investigate postelection violence found 518 people were killed and thousands were injured.
The opposition believes the casualty figures are much higher in the first major violent protests in the East African nation in decades.
The commission’s report, released in April, recommended further investigation of police conduct during the protests, during which unarmed civilians were reportedly shot in their homes.
Internet access in the country also remained disrupted for several days after the polls, and videos of the shootings were shared on social media after the restoration of internet access, despite police warning people not to share videos online.