General briefing: Tanzania

A progressive rise in Tanzania’s religious freedom violations and religion-related violence came into sharp focus in 2013, when the beheading of a pastor in the north-west of the country was followed by the bombing of Arusha’s Catholic cathedral. Later in 2013, the discovery and arrest of alleged al Qaeda sympathisers as they underwent military training in a remote area on the Tanzanian mainland provided a further illustration of this escalation.

While reports of specific attacks by terrorist groups and their sympathises have reduced on the mainland, there has been a steady deterioration in the general human rights climate since President John Magufuli took office in 2015.

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