Activist Boniface Mwangi has narrated the horrific assault at the hands of Tanzanian authorities after being allegedly detained in the country for several days, a few weeks ago.
Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, June 2, Mwangi recalled being stripped naked, flogged, and even sodomised using objects during his time in captivity in Tanzania.
A tearful Mwangi remembered his four captors taking off his handcuffs before putting on gloves and lifting him up to tie him upside down.
"They tied me upside down, and then they started beating my feet. I was screaming so hard, but there were no tears coming out because of how painful it was. One of them suggested that they put underwear in my mouth, so they did. To drown my screams, they were playing gospel music," he stated.
Afterwards, Mwangi recalled them removing the underwear from his mouth and starting to interrogate him on who he was and who had sent him to destabilise the country.
"Then they said "weka moto", and then some guy put some lubricant in my rectum and anus and they started inserting objects in my backside," the activist stated before breaking down.
As he was being filmed during the ordeal, he stated that his captors threatened to release the footage of the assault if he ever spoke of it.
During the presser, Mwangi revealed that despite being beaten in front of his lawyers and the other captive, Uganda's Agatha Atuhaire, he felt abandoned by the Kenyan government's decision to side with Tanzania.
He relayed that he had been in situations where he travelled across East Africa to support others, including Bobi Wine in Uganda, but he had felt let down this time round.
Agatha also revealed that she was stripped naked and tortured during the ordeal, with the first blow being to her back after she refused to undress. She was forcefully undressed shortly after and violated as well.
Despite admitting that she had to always look behind her back in Uganda, she revealed that she expected Tanzania to be better, but instead received horrific treatment that convinced him Tanzania was more dictatorial than Uganda.
After going missing for three days in Tanzania, the two were found dumped at the borders of their country and Tanzania after being deported via road. Mwangi was notably unable to walk after his recovery in Kwale.
They had been among activists who travelled to Tanzania on May 19 to stand with Tanzania's opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is facing treason charges for calling for electoral reform.
Others like human rights defenders Martha Karua, Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi were the first to get deported from Tanzania on Sunday, May 18. Activists Hussein Khalid, Hanifa Adan and former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga suffered a similar fate a day later, on May 19.
