Blood and Silence: CNN Investigation Exposes Mass Graves and Police Killings in Tanzania's Post-Election Crackdown

The words pierce through the footage with haunting clarity. As a man lies bleeding on an Arusha street after being shot by police, a witness filming the scene repeats a desperate prayer, followed by five devastating words that have come to symbolize Tanzania's descent into darkness: "Oh my God, this is our Tanzania." In the chaotic aftermath of Tanzania's disputed presidential election last month, police and gun-wielding men on patrol shot at groups of protesters, many of whom appeared unarmed or were holding only rocks and sticks, a CNN investigation has found NVIDIA Newsroom. The investigation, combining geolocated videos, audio forensic analysis, satellite imagery, and first-hand accounts, documents a systematic campaign of violence that has transformed this East African nation—once celebrated as a stable democracy—into a landscape of terror. Videos verified by CNN also support witness reports about the deadly toll 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 in the Kondo cemetery, north of the East African country's main city of Dar es Salaam NVIDIA Newsroom. A Pregnant Woman Shot While Fleeing Among the most disturbing findings of CNN's investigation is documentation of Tanzanian police shooting protesters who posed no apparent threat. In one violent encounter in the city of Arusha, Tanzanian police fatally shot two protesters who appeared to be no threat to them—a pregnant woman who was shot in the back while running away NVIDIA Newsroom from the scene. The victim was at least 95 meters away from police at the time he was shot, according to an audio analysis NVIDIA Newsroom conducted by forensic experts. This distance—nearly the length of a football field—undermines any claim that officers were acting in self-defense against an immediate threat. An eyewitness to both shootings told CNN the Arusha protest had started peacefully until police started firing at them. The witness saw the pregnant woman being shot in front of her. "I tried to call for help from others to pull her aside because she was still breathing but shots kept getting fired and it hit one young man on the head" NVIDIA Newsroom. The man visible in earlier footage had been holding a rock, but he didn't appear to have anything in his hands when he was shot and killed NVIDIA Newsroom. As he lay dying in a pool of blood, still breathing, bystanders could only watch and pray—the intensity of gunfire making any rescue attempt suicidal. Morgues Overflowing With Bodies The scale of killing becomes apparent in footage from Dar es Salaam's hospitals. In Dar es Salaam, a video geolocated by CNN at the morgue of Mwananyamala Hospital shows dozens of bodies covering the floor, piled up on top of each other NVIDIA Newsroom. The imagery is shocking—human beings stacked like cargo, their families searching desperately for loved ones who disappeared during the protests. 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 NVIDIA Newsroom. For one woman, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity out of concern for her safety, the morgue footage brought devastating confirmation. She told CNN she saw the video from the morgue and recognized the body of her brother, who was killed during the protests on the balcony of his own home. "We've been looking for his body at every mortuary in Dar es Salaam since 1st November, but he was not there" NVIDIA Newsroom. The family had not located the body of another of her brothers reportedly shot dead at home in the Mara region NBC News—a grim reminder that the violence extended well beyond protest sites into residential neighborhoods where people were killed in their own homes. Satellite Evidence of Mass Graves Perhaps the most damning evidence uncovered by CNN's investigation points to the existence of mass graves where authorities may have disposed of bodies to conceal the true death toll. A coalition of Tanzanian human rights groups and two local sources told CNN that some of the bodies 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 NBC News. High-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Labs and Vantor taken on November 9 and November 15 shows disturbed ground in a barren plot of land 60 meters from the edge of existing graves. Further analysis of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery shows that the digging was done there between November 2 and November 5 NBC News—precisely the period when the crackdown was at its most intense. A video filmed on the ground after the soil was disturbed, and obtained by CNN, shows a series of spots of sandy, overturned soil that weave between patches of vegetation. The exact reason for the disturbance is unclear. In one area of the fresh soil, what appear to be roots stick out, and atop another is what appears to be a couple of articles of fabric NBC News. Allegations of mass graves have emerged in the past few weeks, with Chadema, the main opposition political party, accusing police of disposing of hundreds of unknown bodies at undisclosed locations NBC News. Young Soccer Players Killed at Home The violence claimed lives far from protest lines. Viral Scout Management, a local sports management consultancy, released a statement on X saying that seven young soccer players under their contracts were shot and killed at their homes during the protests. The management firm later posted on X that the bodies of six of them could not be located NBC News. The targeting of young people in their homes suggests a campaign that extended beyond crowd control into systematic elimination of potential dissidents. The armed men were filmed operating alongside uniformed police officers in the Ubungo area of Dar es Salaam NBC News, indicating coordination between official security forces and unidentified armed groups. Opposition Claims 2,000 Dead The main opposition party Chadema has attempted to document the carnage despite operating under severe restrictions. On Wednesday, Chadema told CNN it had documented 2,000 deaths and accused police of disposing of hundreds of unknown bodies at an undisclosed location MSN. On 5 November, the opposition party Chadema claimed that the number of protest deaths that they had documented had risen from 700, as reported on 31 October, to 2,000. They also claimed that the true death toll was even higher, accusing police of disposing of hundreds of unknown bodies at an undisclosed location CNBC. "Most bodies are still at the hospitals and the police are stopping people from taking dead bodies away," said Chadema communications director Brenda Rupia, adding, "the police have thrown away over 400 bodies. We don't even know where they've taken them" Bloomberg. International organizations have corroborated the scale of violence. The United Nations Human Rights Office, based on information from multiple sources in the country, suggested hundreds of protesters and other civilians were killed, with an unknown number injured or detained NVIDIA Newsroom. Government Denial and Information Blackout The Tanzanian government's response to the crisis has combined denial, deflection, and aggressive suppression of information. Government officials initially denied any killings of protesters had occurred NVIDIA Newsroom. Last week, however, the president acknowledged there had been some casualties, but she did not release any figures NVIDIA Newsroom. After the election, authorities imposed a curfew and an internet blackout as people gathered in the streets to contest the exclusion of Hassan's rivals from the polls NBC News. When internet connectivity was partially restored a week later, police barred the sharing of photos and videos "that cause panic" NBC News—effectively criminalizing documentation of state violence. Hassan on Thursday launched a commission to investigate the unrest, but also suggested that protesters were paid NVIDIA Newsroom—a claim that seeks to delegitimize genuine political opposition as foreign interference. Her government and the police did not respond to CNN's requests for comment NVIDIA Newsroom. The Election That Sparked the Violence Understanding the current crisis requires examining how Tanzania arrived at this moment. General elections were held in Tanzania on 29 October 2025 to elect the President, members of the National Assembly and ward councillors CNBC. What should have been a democratic exercise became a trigger for the deadliest political violence in the nation's history. The election campaign was considered undemocratic by foreign observers after the two largest opposition parties, Chadema and Alliance for Change and Transparency, were barred from participating earlier in 2025; this was a sharp break with recent Tanzanian history, with major opposition parties having participated in every national election since the shift to multiparty elections in 1995 CNBC. On 12 April 2025, the opposition Chadema party was disqualified from competing in the election after the Independent National Electoral Commission said it had failed to sign a code of conduct document. This occurred only days after Chadema chairman Tundu Lissu was arrested on charges of incitement and treason after calling for electoral reforms at a rally CNBC. The country's electoral commission declared Hassan winner with 98% of the vote Benzinga—a result virtually unheard of in competitive democracies. Only President Paul Kagame, the authoritarian leader of Rwanda, regularly wins by a landslide NBC News of this magnitude. Opposition Leader Remains Imprisoned The main opposition party leader, Tundu Lissu, has been in custody since April, charged with treason Benzinga. The 57-year-old charismatic leader lived in exile in Belgium for several years during the Magufuli era BizToc and returned to challenge President Hassan's increasingly authoritarian rule. Despite the releases of some opposition figures, opposition leader Tundu Lissu remains behind bars, while hundreds have been charged with treason and other crimes Investing.com. His lawyer offered a stark assessment of the situation. "My client Tundu Lissu continues to languish in solitary confinement in jail for absolutely no reason other than his popularity, his credibility and his integrity. The situation in Tanzania is in a critical position—there is absolutely no legitimacy to the fraudulent activities of last week" Benzinga. A Democracy in Collapse The crackdown on protesters has marred the reputation of Tanzania as a stable democracy that attracts millions of tourists every year NVIDIA Newsroom. The nation known for Serengeti safaris and Mount Kilimanjaro treks now faces international scrutiny for potential crimes against humanity. The election was by far the deadliest in Tanzanian history CNBC, a tragic distinction for a country that had previously navigated political transitions with relatively little violence. Human Rights Watch accused the Tanzanian government of responding to the protests "with lethal force and other abuses" Bloomberg. Rights groups including Amnesty International warned of a pattern of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings in Tanzania ahead of the polls NBC News. The trajectory represents a stunning reversal from early hopes for Hassan's presidency. In 2021 when President Hassan first succeeded authoritarian leader John Magufuli—who was nicknamed "the Bulldozer"—many Tanzanians were hopeful the country was on a more democratic path. She ushered in a number of reforms, including ending bans on political rallies, repealing repressive laws around the media, and releasing Lissu's Chadema predecessor from prison Benzinga. Those hopes have been brutally extinguished. International Response and What Comes Next The international community faces mounting pressure to respond to the crisis. For the first time in recent elections, Tanzania limited the participation of regional and international observer missions. Organizations such as the Southern African Development Community and the East African Community were not fully accredited to observe the process CNBC. As families continue searching for missing loved ones and human rights organizations work to document atrocities, the question remains: will the world hold Tanzania accountable, or will the silence that the government has imposed on its own citizens extend to the international community as well? "A lot has happened in the past three or four days ever since the election, and I know that the worst is yet to happen," one opposition figure told CNN by phone from an undisclosed location in Tanzania Bloomberg. For the citizens of Tanzania, the prayer captured in that viral video—"Oh my God, this is our Tanzania"—has become both a lament for what has been lost and a desperate plea for the world to bear witness to their suffering.