Prominent Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who has said she was abducted by armed men in Kenya and released after several hours, has recounted her ordeal.

On Monday, she told a press briefing, she was manhandled, choked and shouted at by four unknown assailants who forced her into a vehicle in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Sunday afternoon.

“I am sure that the reason for abduction was to get access to my social media and [because of] the whistleblowing job that I do,” she said, as her abductors kept asking how to unlock her phone.

Ms Tsehai is a staunch critic of Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, and has accused her government of bringing “tyranny back” to the country.

She fled to neighbouring Kenya in 2020, seeking asylum after facing increasing threats coming from the government of late President John Magufuli.

Describing what happened on Sunday, the activist said she was freed and left on a “rough road, in a dark place”.

She then walked to a main road and approached people for help.

Ms Tsehai said she was able to contact her husband on a laptop and then ordered a taxi home.

She said she thought the abductors were both Kenyan and Tanzanian though did not think her kidnapping was the result of collaboration between the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments.

Officials from neither government have commented on the incident.

Upon her release on Sunday, she shared a video to her 1.3 million followers on X, appearing visibly shaken and emotional, but said: “I have been saved.”

Roland Ebole, spokesperson for Amnesty International Kenya, told the BBC that Ms Tsehai’s abduction set a “very dangerous precedent”.

The Law Society of Kenya president, Faith Odhiambo, said on X: “We will not allow our country to be used as a haven for picking up individuals,” she said at an evening press conference.

Ms Tsehai is a fierce advocate for land rights and freedom of expression in Tanzania.

There have been concerns that Tanzania could be returning to the repressive rule of late President John Magufuli, despite his successor Samia lifting a ban on opposition gatherings and promising to restore competitive politics.

Last year, dozens of opposition were arrested and some were brutally killed. One senior opposition leader died after being doused in acid.

Human Rights Watch described the rise in arrests of opposition activists as a “bad sign” ahead of the 2025 presidential elections, which will take place in October.

Change Tanzania, a movement founded by Ms Tsehai, said in a statement on X it believed she had been taken by Tanzanian security agents “operating beyond Tanzania borders to silence government legitimate criticism”.

It added that her “courage in standing up for justice has made her a target”.

In recent months, she had expressed concerns about her safety, reporting an incident where two unidentified men were seen looking for her at her home while she was away.

Kenya has a history of enabling foreign governments to abduct its citizens and carry out forcible extraditions, breaching international law.

Last year, Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was kidnapped in Nairobi, allegedly by Ugandan security officials, and taken across the border for trial by a court martial.

The Ugandan government said Kenya helped them in the operation – but the Kenyan government denied this.

Mr Ebole told the BBC “it might be another repeat” of Mr Besigye’s situation.

Internally, Kenya has been gripped by a wave of disappearances, following last year’s youth-led protests against a series of planned tax rises.

On Sunday, a serving minister whose son was abducted in June last year criticised the government over its handling of the matter.

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi said the abduction of his son – who was later released – remained unexplained, even though he was a senior member of the government.

At the time, he was serving as the attorney-general.

”My son was personally abducted and disappeared making us anxious and at that time, I was the Attorney General of Kenya and a member of the National Security Council,” he said at a press conference, adding that he had received not answers despite reaching out to the top security officials.

A state-funded rights group saying that over 80 people were abducted in the last six months. The abductions started in the wake of deadly anti-tax protests last June and have continued against critics of the government.

A few have been released in recent weeks, and there are growing calls for all who have been abducted to be freed.