Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a Tanzanian activist kidnapped in Kenya, was found a few hours later

Prominent Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who was kidnapped by gunmen in Kenya, said she was released hours after the incident.

Amnesty International Kenya spokesman Roland Ebole told the BBC they were “forced” into a vehicle in the capital Nairobi on Sunday evening.

But Ms. Tsehai was released a few hours later. She shared a video on X with her 1.3 million followers, looking visibly shaken and emotional, but said: “I’m saved.”

Ms Tsehai is a vocal critic of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has accused her government of bringing “tyranny” to the country.

The president of the Law Society of Kenya, Faith Odhiambo, told Xn that they had managed to arrange his release.

“We are sending a warning. We will not allow our country to be used as a refuge for people,” he said at an evening press conference.

Kenyan and Tanzanian officials declined to comment.

Ms. Tsehai is a fierce advocate for land rights and freedom of expression in Tanzania.

There have been concerns that Tanzania could return to the repressive rule of late President Magufuli, despite his successor Samia promising to lift the ban on opposition meetings and restore competitive politics.

Last year, dozens of opponents were arrested and some were brutally killed. A senior opposition leader died after being doused in acid.

Human Rights Watch has called the rise in arrests of opposition activists a “bad sign” ahead of the 2025 presidential election in October.

Change Tanzania, a movement founded by Ms Tsehai, said in a statement about X that it was believed to have been taken by Tanzanian security agents “to silence legitimate critics of the government operating beyond Tanzania’s borders”.

He added that “the courage to stand up for justice has made him a target”.

In recent months, he has expressed concern about his safety, reporting an incident in which two unidentified men were seen looking for him while he was away.

Kenya has a history of allowing foreign governments to abduct and forcibly extradite its citizens in violation of international law.

Last year, Uganda’s opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was kidnapped in Nairobi by Ugandan security officials and flown across the border to be tried by a trial court.

The Ugandan government claimed that Kenya supported them in the operation, but the Kenyan government denied it.

Ebole told the BBC “it could be another repeat of Mr Besigye’s situation”.

Domestically, Kenya has been gripped by a wave of disappearances following youth-led protests against a series of planned tax hikes last year.

A state-funded rights group says more than 80 people have been kidnapped in the past six months.

A few have been released in recent weeks, and there are more and more calls for the release of all those who have been held hostage.