Nairobi – A Tanzanian dissident, and former opposition official, Twaha Mwaipaya, was abducted in Kenya on Sunday, Amnesty International and his party said.
Tanzania’s government, which has cracked down heavily on the opposition, has been accused of attempting to abduct dissidents who have taken refuge in neighbouring Kenya.
Mwaipaya, a leading youth organiser for the main opposition party, Chadema, was jailed in 2022 for criticising the government. He fled into exile in Kenya last year.
He posts regularly to almost 600,000 Instagram followers against the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is accused by the opposition of brutal repression, including the killing of thousands of protesters during the elections a year ago.
Amnesty said Mwaipaya was kidnapped while riding in a taxi to visit friends “by individuals travelling in three vehicles”. It said the abduction happened in Kamulu, Machakos County, just east of Nairobi on Sunday afternoon.
“They rounded him up and took him away,” John Kitoka, Chadema’s head of foreign affairs, told AFP.
“They might end up killing him because such abductions don’t end up with the police. He is a critic of the government. He’s a big problem for them.”
Kitoka is also in exile in Kenya since last year’s election violence and says he feels “very unsafe”.
Twaha Mwaipaya, a Tanzanian national, was reportedly abducted at around 2pm today in Kamulu, Machakos County, by individuals travelling in three vehicles, including a Toyota Land Cruiser hardtop.
He was travelling by taxi to visit friends. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to reach out immediately. Authorities must urgently establish his whereabouts and ensure his safety.
Please share widely. #FreeTwahaMwaipaya
— Amnesty Kenya (@AmnestyKenya) October 25, 2026
“I know there are people sent to Nairobi to do abductions,” he said.
Amnesty urged the authorities to “urgently establish (Mwaipaya’s) whereabouts and ensure his safety”.
Kenya has been accused of allowing foreign governments to kidnap their citizens and forcibly extradite them in violation of international law.
In October 2024, four Turkish refugees were abducted in Nairobi and forcibly returned to Turkey.
The following month, Uganda said it had worked with Kenyan authorities to seize Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, in Nairobi and take him back to Kampala for a widely condemned trial.
In January 2025, renowned Tanzanian rights activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai was kidnapped in Nairobi but released before she could be smuggled across the border after an outcry by rights groups and the media.
In February 2026, another Tanzanian activist, Mshabaha Mshabaha Hamza, was also captured and then released.
Amnesty International warned that this was part of a “growing and worrying trend of transnational repression”.
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Source: AFP
