ZIMBABWEAN human rights defender Blessing Vava was on Tuesday detained, questioned, labelled “a security risk” before being deported from Tanzania without explanation by immigration authorities.
Vava, who is the director for Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, arrived at Julius Nyerere International Airport on a “solidarity mission” to engage with civil society groups and social movements as the East African nation prepared to go to the polls, held yesterday.
These groups were reportedly facing repression under President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government in the lead-up to the country's contentious elections.
Polls opened for presidential and parliamentary elections without the leading opposition party, as the government of Hassan has been cracking down on dissent ahead of the vote.
According to a statement from the coalition, Vava’s passport was confiscated immediately upon arrival.
He was then subjected to hours of interrogation before being informed that he was “not welcome” in Tanzania.
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He was subsequently held overnight in a cell at the airport, which the coalition said was without adequate provisions, including blankets, before his deportation yesterday.
The coalition condemned the deportation, describing the incident as “barbaric and unfortunate”.
“The human rights defender was then taken to a holding cell within the parameters of the airport, where he spent a night in detention without any blankets,” the Coalition said in a statement.
“We condemn this barbaric and unfortunate act which in our view is an affront to human rights and the dignity of the African child and goes against the values of Ubuntu and Pan Africanism as envisioned by the late icon Julius Kambarage Nyerere.
“We are disturbed by the continued harassment and deportation of human rights defenders, and in particular election observers whose work is not criminal, but to promote human rights, good governance and democracy.”
Tanzanian authorities have not issued an official statement regarding the incident.