Nairobi, Kenya, November 7, 2025: VOCAL Africa, Defenders Coalition, and Amnesty International Kenya express our deep outrage and condemnation over the recently witnessed and ongoing violence, human rights violations, and breakdown of the rule of law in the Republic of Tanzania following the just concluded elections.
We are appalled by the tragic killing of Mr. John Okoth Ogutu, a Kenyan teacher at Sky Schools in Dar es Salaam, who was shot dead on 29th October 2025 and the unlawful arrest and detention of Mr. Fredrick Lorent Obuya, a Kenyan national who was taken into custody by Tanzanian security forces on 31st October 2025 and remains held incommunicado at Oyster Bay Police Station in Dar es Salaam. These are not isolated incidents but rather emblematic of the escalating repression unleashed by Tanzanian authorities against the public, journalists, and human rights defenders in the aftermath of the disputed elections.
We are deeply concerned by statements by Samia Suluhu Hassan and other state officials that foreign nationals, and particularly Kenyans, are responsible for the violence that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent days. These claims are unfounded and present serious risks to the safety of Kenyans and other foreign nationals.
The police killing of Mr. Ogutu and the continued detention of Mr. Obuya represent serious breaches of Tanzanian constitutional law and violate multiple regional and international instruments to which Tanzania is a State Party. These instruments include the East African Community (EAC) Treaty, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It is important to note that there could be as many as 20,000 Kenyans who reside and work in Tanzania. Like John Ogutu and Fredrick Obuya, they are teachers and businesspeople. They are also health-workers, hoteliers, entrepreneurs, traders, bankers, and engineers, among other professional occupations. The Government of Kenya bears an unequivocal duty to protect its citizens abroad and to demand accountability where their rights are violated.
We remind the Government of Kenya that today marks the 38th day since Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were kidnapped and unlawfully held by the Government of Uganda without access by their families, legal, and consular representation. We continue to demand their release and return to Kenya and their families.
While we welcome the bilateral engagement between the Tanzanian and Kenyan Foreign Ministers yesterday, we urge them to swiftly and comprehensively act to protect Kenyan nationals residing and working in Tanzania.
We consequently demand:
- Immediate repatriation of the body of Mr. John Okoth Ogutu to Kenya with full facilitation by both the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments.
- An independent and transparent postmortem to establish the precise cause of death, conducted in the presence of their families, their lawyers, pathologists, and human rights observers.
- Repatriation of the body of Mr. John Okoth Ogutu to Kenya with full facilitation by both the Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities.
- Immediate unconditional release of Fredrick Lorent Obuya, and where charges exist, his prompt presentation before a competent court of law, access to his family, consular services, and an advocate of his choice.
- A formal apology and full reparation by the Government of Tanzania to the families of both victims.
- A comprehensive assessment of the safety of Kenyans and proactive actions to protect all foreign nationals at risk of arbitrary detention, deportation, visa, work permit, or contract revocation or cyber and physical surveillance.
- Failing these actions, we will press for a case to be filed by bar associations and human rights organisations within the region before the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to seek justice for the victims and accountability of the perpetrators.
Under international law, Tanzanians have the right to call for accountability for pre-election state-led repression and unlawful killings and other human rights violations committed in the context of the elections. Kenyans working in Tanzania must not be scapegoated by an administration that has violently suppressed civic space.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Tanzania in their struggle for human rights, freedom, and dignity. We call upon the Government of Kenya, the AU, SADC, the EAC, and the UN to act decisively and protect Tanzanians, Kenyans in Tanzania, and other foreign nationals.
#JusticeForJohnOkothOgutu #FreeFredrickLorentObuya #DemocracyForTanzania
Signed
Irungu Houghton
Executive Director, Amnesty International Kenya
Hussein Khalid
Executive Director, Vocal Africa
Kamau Ngugi
Defenders Coalition
For more information and interviews, contact Mathias T. Kinyoda
Mobile: +254786725434 | Email: [email protected]