CNN investigation shows police fatally shooting protesters, signs of mass graves

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains disturbing images.

In the chaotic aftermath of last month’s disputed presidential election in Tanzania, police and armed men on patrol opened fire on groups of protesters, many of whom appeared unarmed or wielded only rocks and sticks, according to CNN’s investigation.

Geolocated videos of scenes, forensic analysis of gunshots fired, and first-hand accounts from witnesses and victims document the brutality inflicted on young demonstrators following the re-election of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who claimed victory with 98% of the vote on October 29 after banishing her chief rivals from the presidential race.

Videos verified by CNN also corroborate witness reports of the deadly consequences of the post-election crackdown, showing morgues overflowing with scores of bodies.

Additionally, satellite images and videos show recently disturbed soil consistent with reports of mass graves at the Kondo cemetery north of the East African country’s main city, Dar es Salaam. Two human rights groups and eyewitnesses interviewed by CNN say the bodies of protesters killed in the past few weeks are buried here.

After the election, authorities imposed a curfew and internet blackout as people gathered on the streets to object to the exclusion of Hassan’s rivals from the ballot box. Main opposition party leader Tundu Lissu has been detained since April on charges of treason.

A week later, when internet connection was partially restored, the police banned the sharing of “panic-inducing” photos and videos. Government officials initially denied that any protesters had been killed. However, last week the president acknowledged there were some losses but did not disclose any figures.

Hassan on Thursday set up a commission to investigate the unrest, but also suggested protesters were being paid. His government and police did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

The crackdown on protesters has damaged Tanzania’s reputation as a stable democracy that attracts millions of tourists every year.

The United Nations Human Rights Office, based on information from various sources in the country, suggested that hundreds of protesters and other civilians were killed and an unknown number were injured or detained.

with the help of open source researcher Benjamin Strick, CNN reviewed dozens of videos and images of civilians dying from gunshot wounds, as well as footage of bodies overflowing from morgues at Sekou-Toure Regional Referral Hospital in Mwanza and Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

In Mwanza, photos and videos geolocated by CNN outside the hospital show at least 10 bodies slumped on a stretcher.

A doctor who treated gunshot wound victims there for four days and asked not to be named for fear of retaliation said the dead were brought to the morgue by police “until they were full.” He said they then “piled” the bodies outside the hospital.

The doctor said that most of those killed and injured were young men. “They all had gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies. Especially in the head, abdomen, chest and lower limbs. They were severely injured patients with varying degrees of consciousness,” he told CNN.

In Dar es Salaam, a video geolocated by CNN at the Mwananyamala Hospital morgue shows dozens of bodies piled on top of each other, covering the floor. Tanzania’s Ministry of Health denied the authenticity of the images in a statement on social media. The department did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

One woman, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety, told CNN she saw the video from the morgue and recognized the body of her brother, who was killed on the balcony of his own home during the protests. “We had been looking for his body in every morgue in Dar es Salaam since November 1, but he wasn’t there,” he told CNN.

According to eyewitnesses, demonstrations broke out shortly after the polls opened on October 29 and continued for several days in some places. In a violent encounter analyzed by CNN, Tanzanian police in the city of Arusha fatally shot two protesters who posed no threat to them: a pregnant woman who was shot in the back as she ran away, and a young man who was shot in the head.

At 15.27 on election day, a group of young people gathered at an intersection and confronted approximately 10 armed police. A protester is seen throwing rocks at them.

Two minutes later, the scene goes wild, according to a video circulating on social media that Strick first geolocated. CNN obtained the original images and verified their findings by analyzing their metadata.

In the video, demonstrators can be seen running on the road amid gunshots. A woman wearing a lavender blouse and hat, holding a stick and a rock, was fatally shot in the back while running with other protesters. She falls to the ground, blood comes out of her blouse. Other demonstrators tried to help the woman to her feet and provide assistance but were unsuccessful.

In another video, a woman can be heard asking the fatally injured woman to wake up. Protesters in distress can be heard calling for help.

Forensic examination at the scene shows that the woman was shot from behind: The hole in the blouse, which was the entry point of the bullet, can be seen shortly after the gunshot is heard. After a while, the woman drops the stick and stone and collapses to the ground.

Sources close to her family confirmed to CNN that the woman was three months pregnant and left behind a husband and two children.

Rob Maher, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Montana State University who specializes in forensic audio analysis, analyzed audio from the original video of the shooting.

Based on the time interval between the “crack” sound, the bullet’s ballistic shock wave, and the “bang” of the muzzle blast, Maher determined that the distance between the firearm and the microphone of the device capturing the video was approximately 112 meters (367 feet).

Moments later, video taken from the other side of the road showed a black-clad protester walking towards a police post at the top of the road. Another protester throws a rock, a gunshot is heard, and a different man in a red shirt is seen collapsing to the ground with a visible head injury. The video’s geolocation was first identified by open source researcher Strick and confirmed by CNN.

In another video of the encounter, the man lying in a pool of blood is seen still breathing. “Oh my God, this is our Tanzania,” the filmer repeats along with a Muslim prayer. The man was seen holding a rock in his hand in earlier footage, but appeared to have nothing in his hand when he was shot and killed.

According to Maher’s audio analysis, the victim was at least 300 feet away from police when he was shot. According to CNN’s analysis, both this distance and the distance calculated in the video of the pregnant woman being shot correspond to the officer’s apparent position at the top of the road.

An eyewitness to both attacks told CNN that the Arusha protest started peacefully until police started shooting at them. The witness saw the pregnant woman being shot in front of his eyes.

“I tried to call for help from others to pull her (the pregnant woman) aside because she was still breathing, but the shooting continued and a young man was hit in the head. It was the most inhumane thing ever,” the witness said. “Someone’s mother died while I and others watched.”

A common pressure

In other parts of the country, videos have emerged on social media showing plainclothes armed men, whom security officials and locals suspect to be police, pursuing and opening fire on protesters. CNN geolocated several videos showing plainclothes police officers getting out of white pickup trucks and opening fire in the back streets of civilian areas in Dar es Salaam.

In a series of drone videos shot in the city’s Segerea area on Tabata Road, protesters can be seen fleeing and taking shelter in the courtyards of an alley as a white pickup truck approaches. The gunmen are seen getting out of the truck and walking around the civilian area, opening fire several times.

The gunmen were filmed operating alongside uniformed police officers in the Ubungo district of Dar es Salaam.

Viral Scout Management, a local sports management consultancy, published a report Description of X He said that 7 young contracted football players were shot and killed in their homes during the protests. The management company then Published on X The bodies of six of them could not be found.

The woman who recognized her brother in the Mwananyamala morgue footage told CNN that she was unable to find the body of another brother, who was reportedly shot dead at the family’s home in the Mara district.

Allegations of mass graves have emerged over the past few weeks, with the main opposition political party Chadema accusing police of dumping hundreds of unknown bodies in undisclosed locations.

A coalition of Tanzanian human rights groups and two local sources told CNN that the bodies of some of the protesters killed after October 29 in Dar es Salaam were buried in a mass grave at the Kondo cemetery in Kunduchi, north of the city.

High-resolution satellite images from Planet Labs and Vantor taken on November 9 and November 15 show disturbed ground in a barren landscape 60 meters from the edge of the existing graves. Further analysis of Sentinel-2 satellite images shows that the excavation took place between 2 November and 5 November.

A video taken on the ground after the soil was disturbed and obtained by CNN shows a series of sandy, tumbled soil dots woven among patches of vegetation. The exact cause of the disorder is unclear. One area of ​​fresh soil has what look like roots growing out of it, while the other has what looks like a few pieces of fabric.

CNN’s Oliver Sherwood contributed to this report.

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