Authorities of the East African Country, Tanzania, have reportedly stepped up their restrictions on LGBT health and human rights organizations ahead of the country’s general elections slated for Oct. 28,The African Human Rights Media Network reports.
Although, Anti-LGBT crackdowns in Tanzania are not new, reports suggest that they have intensified. According to Human Rights Watch, there is documentation of the government’s repression of LGBT people and LGBT activism, some of which include arbitrary arrests and forced anal exams.
On June 16, in Zanzibar, the registrar of political parties, as reported by Human Rights Watch, summoned Hamid Muhammad Ali, director of the AIDS Initiative Youth Empowerment and Development, an LGBT rights group, to a meeting in which officials questioned him and informed him that his organization’s registration was being suspended for “promoting homosexuality”. Ali told Human Rights Watch that four days later, police personnels visited and searched his home and directed him to undergo an anal examination at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital the following day. He said he went to the hospital and was asked to provide his fingerprints and a copy of his national ID card, but was not forced to undergo the examination. On August 10, the minister for regional administration, local government, and special departments cancelled the group’s nongovernmental organization license for going against the “religious and social values” of Zanzibar. Ali and other LGBT rights activists in Zanzibar told Human Rights Watch that they believe these officials carried out these actions to gain political favor ahead of the elections.
John Magufuli is the fifth President of Tanzania, in office since 2015 and who is now contesting for re-election scheduled to hold on October 28.
