The savel activist tells BBC as he was shot and left in the dead

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On the eve of the abduction on the highway in the city of Tanzania, the gift -us -Salaam, social media activist Edgar Mwakabel, better known as the savors, says he approached his death.

In an interview with the BBC, he describes how he was interrogated after his abduction on June 23 last year, and then transported him across the country to a distant region of Katavi near the Congolese border, more than 1000 km (600 miles).

The sacova says he was handcuffed, tied with his eyes and brutally beaten, including, including re -struck on the head, back and legs with a flat side of the machete.

“It was very painful.”

He tells the BBC that those who abducted him want to find out who promotes his activity and why he criticized the Cham Cham (CCM) party since 1977.

The sacova believes that those who kept it were police officers or other operational associated with the authorities.

However, the government denies that it is aimed at critics of the state.

Sativa says that on the fourth day after the adoption, the violence continued when his half -handers transferred him to Katavi National Park, full of dangerous wild animals and pulled him to the river.

He believes that it was clear that his captives did not intend to allow him to live.

Then, he says, a cooled order came out of the vehicle behind them: “Shoot it!”

The trigger was stretched. The bullet went through the skull. His jaw was broken.

To the left of the sativor – he thought he was left dead.

As they approached by October, the abductions became more common, mostly focusing on anti -government critics and opposition voices.

Every second week police or social media report the missing. Some have never found and others are again with disturbing violence or torture reports – and some were found dead.

Sativa’s case offers a rare account from survival.

Despite his life -threatening injuries, he resumed consciousness and crawled on the road where his rains were saved.

He will need a long and specialized treatment, and his survival was described as “extraordinary”.

Police did not respond to BBC requests for an interview, but in a video posted in the media in June, their press -secretary, deputy commissioner David Misim said he was acting on information about those who had disappeared and did not investigate.

The BBC talked to the families of the missing people, and those who died and they passed their suffering about the missing.

Portrait artist Shedrak Chaul, 25, among those who are still missing.

He was not seen or heard for more than a year. In June 2024, he posted a video of a viral when he burned the photo of the President Suluha himself and insulted it.

He was arrested, convicted of cyberzaras and released after the fines. A month later, unknown persons were abducted.

“We don’t know if they are found. When he was arrested, at least we knew where he was.

He says that in August 2024, three men arrived in a car with tinted windows and seized it. They did not identify themselves and did not explain why and where they were being taken.

“We made every effort. We’re exhausted. We visited all the detainees.

Police insisted that the investigation was underway.

“If we knew where he was, or where he was being held, or even if we knew that he had died and was buried somewhere, at least we had a grave to visit,” Mr. Chaul says, fighting the suffering unanswered and the lack of closure.

In June, UN experts reported that more than 200 violent disappearances were recorded In the country since 2019.

They expressed anxiety about “torture for the silence of the opposition and critics” ahead of the election, and called on the government “to stop it immediately”.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recently accused the government of detentions, abuse and forced disappearances.

Authorities have denied these allegations.

Police have identified at least a dozen cases of kidnapping since last year, some of which have been resolved since then, and many have returned to 2019.

On June 18, police announced that the investigation led to the opening of some victims who were still alive.

They added that in some cases the abductions participated on their own, and others arose from the romantic relationships that went with acidic, superstitious beliefs and disputes of property.

“Police forces call on relatives, friends and the public to remain calm as security forces continue to be investigated to reveal the facts related to these incidents,” the deputy commissioner said.

The president called on the police to stop the alarming cases of missing missing – a directive that many Tanzaniah hopes will lead to justice.

In May, an activist and opposition politician of MPALuk Nyanagali, widely known as MDUD, was abducted from the house in Mbia, South Tanzania, a brutal incident testifying to his wife and a young child.

At the scene there were blood spots that showed the brutality of the attack.

Since then, the members of the main opposition party, Chadem, have launched a search in Mbia and conducted prayer vigils demanding the police they suspect in the incident.

To date, the wife of MDUD, Siji Mbugi, has not heard from him.

‘I beg to release my husband.

On July 9, the Supreme Court in Mbia stopped the case she had disappeared.

She testified that the armed persons who identified themselves as police officers burst into their house late in the evening and attacked Mdude before picking it up.

During the trial, Mbia police admitted that he was investigating the fact that one of their officers may have played a role in the abduction of the MDU.

Activists described the dismissal of this case as a major failure in the constant fight for justice for Tanzania’s combat opposition.

In connection with the incidents, there were no detainees and criminal prosecutions, although police notes that investigations were being conducted.

Some activists from other countries of the region have also accused the Tanzania authorities of orientation.

Kenya Boniface Mvangi and Uganda Agater Agater.

The location of Mvangi and Atuhar was unknown for several days. Both were abandoned near the borders of their countries.

But Dzhuman Muliro, commander of a special police zone, Gift -us -Salam, said the BBC at the time that their allegations were “alien” and asked them to provide evidence of the investigation. Since then, they have initiated a case in the regional court of East African justice on this issue.

Their difficult trials are careful about the issue of forced disappearances of government critics, opposition figures and human rights defenders in Tanzania.

“Nobody gives answers,” says Madukh William, an activist at the Center for Legal and Human Rights (LHRC), adding that security authorities usually promise to conduct a thorough investigation, but the case will end there.

“In the end, we do not receive reviews about what is happening to these (cases),” he says, citing the example of Ali Kiboo, a high -ranking official, who was killed last year after the abduction, beating and acid -drenched.

“Even the President (Samia) ordered the security forces in Tanzania to conduct a thorough investigation and submit a report for further action. But nothing is heard,” he says.

Boniface Mvubukus, President Tanganyika, says many people are afraid to go out and share their stories for fear of vicimization.

He says there is no free, independent system that can provide proper justice.

“If you are in custody of the police and the same officers ask you to give a statement about your abduction, you can go to them? You can’t,” he says.

“Most people they leave it to God. They are afraid. They say that when they harass the case, everything will deteriorate.”