Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai was kidnapped in Kenya and found a few hours later

Prominent Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who was abducted by gunmen in Kenya, said she was freed hours after the incident.

Amnesty International’s representative in Kenya, Roland Ebole, told the BBC that she was “herded” into a car in the capital, Nairobi, on Sunday afternoon.

But after a few hours, Ms. Tsehai was released. She shared the video with her 1.3 million followers on X, looking visibly shaken and emotional, but said: “I was saved.”

Ms Tsehai is a staunch critic of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and has accused her government of returning “tyranny” to the country.

The president of the Law Society of Kenya, Faith Odhiambo, told X that they had managed to arrange her release.

“We are sending a warning. We will not allow our country to be used as a refuge for the gathering of individuals,” she said at an evening press conference.

Neither Kenyan nor Tanzanian officials have commented.

Ms. Tsehai is a fierce defender of land rights and freedom of speech in Tanzania.

There were fears that Tanzania could return to the repressive rule of the late President Magufuli, despite his successor, Samia, lifting a ban on opposition meetings and promising to restore competitive politics.

Last year, dozens of oppositionists were arrested, and some were brutally killed. One senior opposition leader died after being doused with acid.

Human Rights Watch called the growing number of arrests of opposition activists a “bad sign” ahead of the 2025 presidential election, which will be held in October.

The Change Tanzania movement, founded by Ms Tsehai, said in a statement on X that they believed she had been taken by Tanzanian security agents “operating outside Tanzania to silence legitimate criticism of the government”.

It added that her “courage in standing up for justice made her a target.”

She has expressed concern for her safety in recent months, reporting an incident where two unknown men were seen at her home while she was away.

Kenya has a history of allowing foreign governments to abduct its citizens and carry out forcible extradition in violation of international law.

Last year, Ugandan opposition leader Keiza Besigye was abducted in Nairobi by Ugandan security forces and taken across the border to be tried by a military court.

The Ugandan government said Kenya was helping them in the operation, but the Kenyan government denied it.

Mr Ebole told the BBC that “this could be another repeat” of Mr Besigye’s situation.

Internally, Kenya has been gripped by a wave of disappearances following last year’s youth protests against a series of planned tax hikes.

A state-funded human rights group says more than 80 people have been abducted in the past six months.

Several people have been released in recent weeks, and there are growing calls for the release of all abductees.