{"id":35108,"date":"2026-05-22T07:49:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=35108"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:49:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:49:46","slug":"us-sanctions-tanzanian-police-official-over-alleged-abuse-of-east-african-activists","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-sanctions-tanzanian-police-official-over-alleged-abuse-of-east-african-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"US sanctions Tanzanian police official over alleged abuse of East African activists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The United States (US) has imposed sanctions on a Tanzanian police official, Faustine Jackson Mafwele, over alleged human rights violations linked to the detention and mistreatment of two East African activists.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The designation, announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, bars Mafwele from entering the US. Washington says the action is based on what it describes as credible information connecting the police official to the detention, torture and sexual assault of Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire and Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The two activists travelled to Tanzania last year to observe the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu in Dar es Salaam.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to the US State Department, the sanctions reflect Washington&#8217;s commitment to promoting accountability for alleged human rights abuses and protecting civil society actors.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The case has drawn regional and international attention, with rights groups calling for investigations into the treatment of the two activists while in custody.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Neither Tanzanian authorities nor Mafwele had immediately responded publicly to the US designation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35109,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-35108","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"US has imposed sanctions on a Tanzanian police official, Faustine Jackson Mafwele, over alleged human rights violations","published_date":"2026-05-22 07:41:28","news_description":"US has imposed sanctions on a Tanzanian police official, Faustine Jackson Mafwele, over alleged human rights violations","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35110,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35108\/revisions\/35110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}