The Director of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Dr Blessing Vava was denied entry into Tanzania and deported on Tuesday in what the coalition has described as a barbaric act of repression by Tanzanian authorities.
According to a statement from the Coalition’s Information Desk, Dr Vava arrived at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam on 28 October as part of a regional solidarity mission to meet with civil society organisations (CSOs) and social movements.
The groups, the statement said, have been facing severe repression under what it called the increasingly authoritarian regime of President Samia Suluhu Hassan ahead of Tanzania’s general elections, which the coalition labelled a one-horse race electoral ritual.
Upon arrival, the coalition said Dr Vava’s passport was confiscated by immigration officials who reportedly subjected him to several hours of interrogation and profiling in confined airport rooms.
He was later informed that he was not welcome in Tanzania and was considered a security risk without any further explanation.
Dr Vava spent the night in detention in an airport holding cell without blankets before being deported on Wednesday 29 October.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition condemned his treatment, calling it an affront to human rights and the dignity of the African child.
The organisation said the deportation contradicted the values of Ubuntu and Pan-Africanism espoused by Tanzania’s founding president Julius Nyerere.
“We are disturbed by the continued harassment and deportations of human rights defenders and election observers whose work is not criminal but aimed at promoting human rights, good governance and democracy,” the statement read.
Tanzanian authorities have not issued an official comment on the incident.
The deportation comes amid growing criticism from regional and international observers who have accused President Samia Suluhu’s administration of shrinking civic space and silencing dissent ahead of the polls.
