The Chairman of the Commission for the investigation of incidents of breach of peace during and after the General Elections on October 29, Judge Othman Chande has said that the Commission’s assessment has revealed that the deaths resulting from the violence of the General Elections are 518, Men are 490 equal to 94.6% and Women are 28 equal to 5.4%, there are also artificial intelligence images (AI) used to show the effects, including people buried in mass graves.
“The majority of those deaths have been unnatural, that is, they are unnatural, normal deaths are not legal, illegal because it is the Court alone that determines it, but the examination of the law of deaths recognizes deaths that are not normal, unnatural,
“Dar es Salaam region had more deaths 182, Mwanza 90, Mbeya 80 and Arusha 53 of those deaths 21 deaths of children in that group 15 were children aged 15 to 17 years, while four deaths are between (7 to 10 years), and two are under the age of 5 years.
205 deaths equal to 96.7 percent were of civilians and 16 deaths (3.1%) were of Officers and Soldiers of the Defense and Security Forces, among the 518 people who died, 373 people were brought to the Hospital as dead, while 121 died while receiving treatment in the hospital and 24 corpses do not have complete information,” Judge Chande.
485 corpses were identified and taken by the brothers from health centers for burial and 6 corpses were not identified and were not taken, while 3 were buried according to the rules of waste disposal and 3 corpses have undergone genetic analysis and are still in Dar es Salaam Region in Muhimbili Hospital and 3 corpses have not yet been taken.
“On the post-mortem examination under the suspicious death investigation law held in various hospitals of Rufaa Dar es Salaam and the Regions, an investigation was conducted against 260 corpses, other corpses were not examined due to the absence of the consent of relatives and families,”
“There are brothers who took the corpses of their brothers in a hurry to bury them, among the 260 corpses that were examined, many were found to have puncture wounds with sharp objects and fractures in various parts of the body, these wounds caused a lot of bleeding, thus causing the deaths, although there are 21 corpses that did not show any kind of injuries and 6 corpses had burns.”
“Digital evidence was a big part of the Commission’s analysis, especially in understanding the human impact, a total of sticky images (450) and sticky images (880) were collected in various ways and some had spread on the Internet more than once.”
“The pictures were obtained from witnesses of the events and open sources, including the Media and Social Networks in determining its authenticity, some of the pictures were analyzed and subjected to scientific investigation using certified experts.”
“The results of the analysis showed that some of the images were real, but others were not real, they were edited or manipulated using artificial intelligence technology as well as half-truths.”
The report of the Independent Commission to investigate the violence during and after the general election of Tanzania 2025 has recommended that a special day be set aside to remember those who died due to the violence of October 29.
Other things recommended by the commission include working on and modifying the legality of the use of firearms should be worked on considering the circumstances of the event at that time and period.
Others are the creation of a new constitution, the existence of discussions between religious leaders and agreeing on the existence of boundaries between religion and politics, and the creation of an informal council of elders that will support cooperation and reconciliation.
Retired Judge Chande has said “some Politicians and Activists used the Citizens’ challenges from various sources as an opportunity to persuade the Citizens to participate in the violence by using various slogans and declarations”
“An example of those slogans are no reforms no election, October we are going, Samia Must Go, we make sure the country does not stop until the government leaves, this government has lost the legitimacy to lead the country, these are some of the statements”
Retired Judge Mohamed Chande Othman has said that the Commission is satisfied that the events that took place on October 29, were not peaceful protests but riots that contributed to the breach of peace because the protests did not comply with the laws of the country and the protesters carried weapons.
“A 16-year-old boy from USA River Arusha was persuaded, he was given Tshs. 50 thousand to participate in the protest and they promised him that they would give him 5 million if he participated and in his evidence he says that they gave me a sculpture that will take me out of poverty, that is only one of the Witnesses who came before the Commission to explain how they were forced to participate in the protest”
“According to the evidence presented to the Commission, the events of the October 29 riots were aimed at preventing and disrupting the General Elections of October 29, this goal is manifested through the actions of the rioters, including destroying polling stations, attacking the Police and Administrators and citizens, looting property, and those who voted had ink marks, their fingers were cut off and many were paid money to survive this.”
“Secondly, the riots were done to convey the message to the Government that the youth want to be heard and their challenges resolved, it was found that the coordinators of the riots used the citizens’ complaints against the Government when they were persuading them to riot”
“The third group was about some places where the Candidates’ names were cut off and they participated in the background to encourage their followers to participate in the violence”
“There are people who went through the streets to persuade people to enlist them to commit violence, for example children living in difficult environments, motorcyclists and small entrepreneurs explained that they were given money between Tshs. 10 thousand to 50 thousand and were promised jobs and a better life”
“Participants of the violence during and after the general election carried various types of weapons, including stones, moths, spears, chains, sticks, clubs, knives, matches, explosives, guns, catapults, slingshots, slingshots and swords, which is not legally allowed in a peaceful protest,” he said.
He said the act is against Article 21 of the Charter of Civil and Political Rights, 1966, and other national and regional laws, as well as the Constitution of Tanzania.
