Kenya FM says Tanzania has released activist

Kenya's foreign minister told AFP on Thursday that Tanzanian authorities had released a prominent activist, who rights groups said had been "held incommunicado" since Monday in the East African country.

Boniface Mwangi was among activists who travelled to economic capital Dar es Salaam to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu during his court appearance over charges of treason.

However, Mwangi was detained on Monday with Amnesty International saying he had been "held incommunicado by military officers".

On Thursday Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi told AFP the activist had been released by Tanzanian authorities.

"We have been engaged diplomatically and that is how it is done," he said, without giving further details.

Local outlet Daily Nation, citing his family, reported Mwangi had been deported by road and abandoned in the coastal town of Ukunda, north of the Tanzanian border. He was taken to hospital to be examined.

There had been a growing outcry in Kenya over his detention. Some 20 NGOs had called on the government to press for his "immediate and unconditional release", as his wife, Njeri, condemned officials' "deafening silence".

Mwangi was detained alongside Ugandan activist Agatha Atuhaire, but AFP was unable to determine if she had also been released.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said earlier this week foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country's affairs.

He urged security services "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here".

Activists say the events in Tanzania -- due to hold national elections later this year -- are part of a wider erosion of democracy across east Africa.

In Uganda, opposition leader Kizza Besigye is also on trial for treason after having been kidnapped in Kenya and taken across the border.