A top Tanzanian opposition official seized off a bus by armed men was found de@d on the outskirts of commercial hub Dar es Salaam, with indications of be@ting and acid on his face, according to his party.
The m_rder of Ally Kibao, a member of the main opposition CHADEMA party’s secretariat, may tarnish President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s reformist image, as he has attempted to relax repression since succeeding John Magafuli, who di3d in office three years ago.
Kibao’s body was discovered on Saturday morning, a day after two armed men took him from a bus traveling from Dar es Salaam to Tanga, CHADEMA chairman Freeman Mbowe told journalists late Sunday.
“The (preliminary) post-mortem has been done and it is obvious that Ally Kibao has been k!lled after being severely be@ten and even having acid poured on his face,” Mbowe said, adding that a full autopsy report would be completed on Monday.
President Hassan said she had ordered an investigation into what she described as Kibao’s assassination.
“Our country is democratic and every citizen has the right to live. The government I lead does not tolerate such brutal acts,” she wrote on X on Sunday.
Police said in a statement they were investigating the “tragic incident”.
Mbowe urged the president to form a judicial commission to investigate abductions and the kill!ng of Kibao because, he said, police were among the suspects in the case.
Kibao’s de@th comes a month after police arrested and briefly detained more than 500 CHADEMA supporters, including their top leadership, as they attempted to gather for a meeting of the party’s youth wing in the southwest of the country.
Hassan has taken some steps to ease restrictions on the media and opposition since coming to power, but rights groups say arbitrary detentions have continued.
Reuters
