Editor’s note: This story contains disturbing depictions.
In the aftermath of chaos in Tanzania’s disputed presidential election last month, police and gunmen on patrol opened fire on groups of demonstrators, many of whom appeared to be unarmed or carrying only rocks and sticks, a CNN investigation has found.
Geolocated video from the scene, audio forensic analysis of the shots fired, and first-hand accounts from witnesses and victims document the brutality meted out to young demonstrators following the re-election of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The president claimed victory over his main rivals in the October 29 presidential election with 98% of the vote.
Video reviewed by CNN also shows morgues filled with bodies, confirming eyewitness reports of the death toll from the post-election crackdown.
Additionally, satellite images and video show recently disturbed soil consistent with reports of mass graves at Kondo Cemetery, north of the East African country’s main city Dar es Salaam. Two human rights groups and witnesses interviewed by CNN said bodies of protesters killed in the past few weeks were buried here.
After the election, authorities imposed a curfew and internet blackout as people took to the streets to protest the exclusion of Hassan’s rival from the vote. Tundu Lissu, the main opposition leader, has been detained since April on charges of treason.
When internet connectivity was partially restored a week later, police banned the sharing of photos and videos that would “cause panic.” Government officials initially denied that the killings of protesters had occurred. But the president acknowledged last week that there had been casualties, but did not release numbers.
Mr. Hassan on Thursday set up a commission to investigate the riots, but also suggested that protesters had been paid. Her 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 each year.
The United Nations Human Rights Office suggested, based on information from multiple sources in the country, that hundreds of protesters and other civilians were killed and an unknown number injured or captured.
CNN, with the help of open source investigator Benjamin Strick, examined dozens of videos and images of civilians lying dead from gunshot wounds, as well as images of bodies spilling out of morgues at Sekou Tule Regional Referral Hospital in Mwanza and Mwananyamara Hospital in Dar es Salaam.
In Mwanza, photos and videos geolocated by CNN outside a hospital show at least 10 bodies piled on stretchers.
A doctor who treated gunshot victims there for four days, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said the dead were taken by police to the morgue “until it was full.” They then “stacked” the bodies outside the hospital, he said.
Doctors said many of the victims, including those killed and injured, were young men. “They all had gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies, particularly in the head, abdomen, chest and lower extremities. The seriously injured patients had varying levels of consciousness,” he told CNN.
In Dar es Salaam, video located by CNN at the Mwananyamara hospital mortuary shows dozens of bodies piled on top of each other, covering the floor. Tanzania’s Ministry of Health denied the authenticity of the footage in a statement on social media. The ministry did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
A woman, who asked not to be named out of fear for her safety, told CNN that she recognized the body of her brother, who was killed during a protest, on her balcony after watching a video from the morgue. “We have been searching for his body in all mortuaries in Dar es Salaam since November 1, but he was not there,” she told CNN.
Witnesses said demonstrations broke out shortly after voting opened on October 29 and continued in some areas for several days afterwards. In one violent incident analyzed by CNN, Tanzanian police in the city of Arusha shot dead two protesters who did not appear to be a threat to them. One was a pregnant woman who was shot in the back while fleeing, and the other was shot in the head.
At 3:27 p.m. on election day, a group of young people gathered at an intersection were confronted by about 10 armed police officers. One of the demonstrators appears to be throwing a rock at them.
Two minutes later, the scene erupts into frenzy, according to a video circulating on social media that first pinpointed Strick’s location. CNN confirmed his findings by obtaining the original footage and analyzing its metadata.
Video shows protesters running down the road as gunfire continues. A woman wearing a lavender top and hat and carrying sticks and stones was shot in the back and killed as she ran with other protesters. She fell to the ground, blood gushing out of her blouse. Other demonstrators attempted to help the woman to her feet, but were unsuccessful.
In another video, a woman’s voice can be heard asking the fatally injured woman to wake up. Protesters can be heard crying out for help in distress.
Forensic analysis of the scene revealed that the woman had been shot from behind, and a hole in her blouse where the bullet entered could be seen shortly after the gunshot was heard. After a while, the woman dropped the sticks and stones and fell down.
A source close to the 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, examined audio extracted from the original video of the shooting.
Based on the time difference between the “cracking” sound, the ballistic shock wave of the bullet, and the “thud” of the muzzle explosion, Maher established that the distance between the firearm and the microphone of the device that captured the video was approximately 112 meters (367 feet).
Minutes later, video taken from the other side of the road showed demonstrators dressed in black walking towards a police position at the top of the road. Another demonstrator threw a stone, gunshots rang out and another man in a red shirt was seen lying on the ground with visible head injuries. The video was first located by open source researcher Strick and verified by CNN.
Another video of the encounter shows a man lying in a pool of blood, still breathing. “Oh my god, this is our Tanzania,” the photographer repeated, accompanied by a Muslim prayer. Previous footage showed the man holding a rock, but he appeared to have nothing in his hand at the time of the shooting.
According to Maher’s audio analysis, the victim was at least 300 feet away from police at the time he was shot. According to a CNN analysis, both this distance and the distance calculated from the video of the shooting of the pregnant woman are consistent with the visible position of police on the road.
Witnesses to both shootings told CNN that the protests in Arusha had started peacefully until police began firing. A witness saw a pregnant woman being shot in front of her.
“She (the pregnant woman) was still breathing and tried to get others to help her and pull her to the side, but the bullets continued to be fired and a bullet hit a young man in the head. It was the most inhuman act ever,” the witness said. “Someone’s mother died while I and others watched.”
In other parts of the country, videos have surfaced on social media showing plainclothes gunmen, who security officials and local residents suspect to be police, chasing and opening fire on demonstrators. CNN has geolocated multiple videos in Dar es Salaam showing what appears to be a plainclothes police officer getting out of a white pickup truck and firing into an alleyway in a civilian area.
A series of drone videos taken in the city’s Seguelea neighborhood along Tabata Road showed protesters taking shelter in a side street courtyard as a white pickup truck approached. Armed people were then seen getting out of trucks and wandering through civilian areas, firing repeatedly.
Armed men were filmed standing alongside uniformed police officers in Dar es Salaam’s Ubungo area.
Local sports management consultancy Viral Scout Management released a statement on X, saying seven contracted young soccer players were shot dead in their homes during protests. Later, the management company posted on X that the bodies of six of them could not be found.
A woman who recognized her brother from mortuary footage in Mwananyamala told CNN that her family had not found the body of another brother who was reportedly shot dead at their home in the Mara area.
Allegations of mass graves have surfaced in recent weeks, with the main opposition party Chadema accusing police of disposing of hundreds of unidentified bodies at undisclosed locations.
Some of the bodies of protesters killed in Dar es Salaam since October 29 were buried in a mass grave at the Kondo cemetery in Kunduchi, north of the city, the Tanzanian Federation of Human Rights Organizations and two local sources told CNN.
High-resolution satellite images from Planet Labs and Vantor taken on November 9 and November 15 show disturbed ground on a barren landscape 60 meters from the edge of the existing grave. Further analysis of Sentinel 2 satellite images shows that drilling took place there between November 2nd and November 5th.
Video taken on the ground after the soil was disturbed and obtained by CNN shows a series of overturned sandy soils weaving through vegetation. The exact reason for the uproar is unclear. Some areas of fresh soil have what appear to be roots sticking out, and on top of another area are several pieces of what appears to be fabric.
CNN’s Oliver Sherwood contributed to this report.
