The whereabouts of Tazanian government critic Humphrey Polepole are being questioned by Amnesty International in a statement to APA on Friday.
Polepole was arrested in Dar es Salaam on 6 October 2025 by unidentified security forces after criticising President Samia Suluhu Hassan and the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) over restrictions on civic space, crackdown on human rights and on the opposition including politician Tundu Lissu.
Amnesty in an open letter to President Suluhu Hassan said the Tanzanian authorities must immediately disclose his fate and whereabouts more than a month after his home had been broken into, and his family found a significant amount of blood at the scene where he was whisked away.
The human rights watchdog quoting witnesses said unidentified security officers had blocked the road leading to his house on the day he disappeared with his family and friends unable to reach him ever since.
Police spokesperson David Misime last month issued a statement stating that they were investigating what had happened.
On 7 October, Humphrey Polepole’s lawyers filed a habeas corpus application at the High Court in Dar es Salaam which was dismissed by a judge who ruled that there was no evidence proving that the Tanzanian authorities were responsible for Humphrey Polepole’s disappearance.
Amnesty said Humphrey Polepole may have been targeted because of his reputation as an outspoken critic of the government, in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and association.
He is a cace of an forced disappearance which adds to a growing list of such incidents and represents a crackdown on peaceful dissent and other authoritarian practices in Tanzania.
Samia Suluhu Hassan who was elected for another term as Tanzania’s president had faced growing internal and external criticism over her government’s overly authoritarian reaction to poltical opposition and dissent. Hundreds had died following nationwide protests over the disputed election.
WN/as/APA