DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Unidentified people abducted, beat and seriously injured a senior Tanzanian opposition party official before dumping her in a forest, her party said on Sunday, a month after a similar abduction and murder of another of its party leaders.
The reported cases may taint the reformist image of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has been praised for easing repression since succeeding John Magufuli, who died in office three years ago.
Rights campaigners say Hassan's government is targeting opponents ahead of local elections in December and a national vote in 2025. The government denies the accusations.
CHADEMA, the leading opposition party, said its women's wing publicity secretary, Aisha Machano, was abducted in Kibiti town in the eastern part of the country while she was on official duties.
“Bodaboda (motorcycle) riders found her in a very bad health condition and in severe pain,” the party said on social media platform X.
CHADEMA said Machano's abductors wanted details on who instructed them to burn clothes provided by President Samia Suluhu Hassan during 2023 commemorations of World Women Day in Kilimanjaro region.
“She was rushed to hospital for treatment and she has been admitted to the theatre for further medical care,” the party said.
Police spokesperson David Misime said that after receiving information that Machano was found in a forest in Kibiti, officers had launched investigations into the incident.
“We are requesting the public to be calm as the investigation will provide details on what happened to her, the reasons for the incident and the people who were involved, and we will take legal actions according to available evidence,” he said.
Machano is the second senior opposition official to be abducted and tortured within two months. Ali Kibao, a member of CHADEMA's secretariat, was abducted from a bus by armed men early last month while travelling from Dar es Salaam to the coastal city of Tanga.
Kibao's body was later found on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam with signs he had been beaten and acid had been poured on his face, his party said then.
In September, CHADEMA organised demonstrations against Kibao's death and other reported abductions and disappearances of individuals and opposition party officials in Dar es Salaam, which police thwarted.
Last month Hassan ordered an investigation into Kibao’s death and all related cases.