No Accountability One Year After Tanzania Election Violence

One year after Tanzania's contested 2025 elections, authorities have yet to make any arrests for human rights violations committed before and during the vote.

In the months leading up to the elections, the government intensified its repression of the political opposition, government critics, and the media. Authorities also failed to account for a spate of apparent enforced disappearances, including that of former Tanzanian ambassador to Cuba Humphrey Polepole, who was reported missing just weeks before the elections. Polepole had publicly criticized the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, for not being "aligned with safeguarding human rights, peace, and respect for people." His whereabouts remain unknown.

On and after election day, police and people in plainclothes killed hundreds of protesters and bystanders in response to widespread protests and while enforcing a five-day nationwide lockdown. A year on, the fate of many remains unknown as families have reported burying their relatives with no body.

Authorities also arrested over 2,000 people they accused of destroying government property and of treason during this period, but later released some. Some, including those interviewed by Human Rights Watch, said police beat them while falsely accusing them of participating in the protests.

In November 2025, President Samia Suluhu Hassan established a commission of inquiry to investigate the violence. It concluded that at least 518 people were killed but failed to meaningfully scrutinize the role of security forces. The president has since established another commission that will reportedly investigate the planning of the unrest and excessive and unlawful use of force during the elections. However it remains unclear whether this includes investigating and ensuring the prosecution of people responsible for security force abuses.

Meanwhile, the authorities have intensified their crackdown on government critics in recent months. The treason trial of Tundu Lissu, the leader of the main opposition party, Chama Cha Demokrasia Na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), continued this year.

On October 21, authorities charged John Pambalu, a CHADEMA official, with treason for allegedly forming an "intention to persuade the public to cause obstruction" of the elections through protests. Treason carries the death penalty in Tanzania.

A year since the election violence, families of those killed or missing are still waiting for answers and justice. President Hassan's government should stop targeting critics and instead ensure credible investigations into disappearances and security force abuses and hold those responsible to account.