In brief
Edgar Mwakabela, a social media activist better known as Sativa, shares his harrowing experience of abduction and torture by individuals believed to be linked to the Tanzanian authorities. After being kidnapped in Dar es Salaam and transported over 1,000 km, Mwakabela faced brutality and a life-threatening gunshot wound. His survival raises alarms over the increasing abductions of political critics as Tanzania approaches its general election.
Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing.
In the wake of his abduction on a highway in Tanzania's main city Dar es Salaam, social media activist Edgar Mwakabela, better known as Sativa, says he came close to death.
He describes in an interview with the BBC how, after kidnapping him on 23 June last year, his captors interrogated him and then ferried him across the country to the remote Katavi region near the Congolese border, more than 1,000km (600 miles) away.
Sativa says he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and brutally beaten, including being struck repeatedly on his head, back, and legs with the flat side of a machete.
It was extremely painful.
He tells the BBC that those who abducted him wanted to know who was facilitating his activism, and why he was criticizing the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, in power since 1977.
Sativa believes those who held him were police officers or other operatives linked to the authorities.
However, the government denies that it targets critics of the state.
Sativa says that on the fourth day after being taken, the violence continued as his captors transported him to the Katavi National Park, full of dangerous wild animals, and dragged him towards a river.
He believes it was clear that his captors had no intention of letting him live.
Then, he says, came the chilling order shouted from a vehicle behind them: Shoot him!
A trigger was pulled. A bullet went through his skull. His jaw was shattered.
Sativa's captors left - he thought he had been left for dead.
As October's general election edges closer, abductions have become more common, mostly targeting anti-government critics and opposition voices.
Every other week, police or social media posts announce a missing person. Some are never found, and others reappear with disturbing accounts of violence or torture – and some have been found dead.
Sativa's case offers a rare account from a survivor.
Despite suffering life-threatening injuries, he regained consciousness and crawled to a road where wildlife rangers rescued him.
He would require long and specialized treatment, and his survival has been described as extraordinary.
The police did not respond to BBC requests for an interview, but in a video statement released to media houses in June, their spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner David Misime, said they do act on information about those missing and conduct an investigation.
The BBC has spoken to families of people reported missing and those who have died, and they have relayed their agony over missing loved ones.
