Tanzania Charges Opposition Leader Tundu Lissu wit...

Tanzania Charges Opposition Leader Tundu Lissu with Treason

Zim Now Writer

opposition leader Tundu Lissu has been charged with treason, a capital offence, following remarks prosecutors say amounted to inciting rebellion and attempting to disrupt national elections scheduled for later this year.

Lissu, who chairs the main opposition party CHADEMA and was the runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested on Wednesday after addressing a rally in the southwestern Ruvuma region. He appeared in court on Thursday in Dar es Salaam, where he was remanded into custody and not permitted to enter a plea on the treason charge.

He pleaded not guilty to a separate charge of publishing false information and is expected back in court on April 24.

According to the charge sheet, the alleged treasonous remarks were made on April 3 in Dar es Salaam. Lissu was quoted saying:

“It is true we say we will prevent the election. We will inspire rebellion. That is the way to get change. So we are going to spoil this election. We are going to really disrupt … We are going to spoil it very badly.”

His lawyer, Rugemeleza Nshala, described the charges as politically motivated.

“You cannot separate these charges from politics,” Nshala told Reuters. “He was doing campaigns to educate CHADEMA supporters, but they have turned it into charges.”

The prosecution of Lissu—who survived a 2017 assassination attempt in which he was shot 16 times—has heightened concerns about political freedoms under President Samia Suluhu Hassan's leadership.

Hassan, who came to power in 2021 after the death of former President John Magufuli, initially received praise for easing political repression and restoring media freedoms. However, human rights activists say her administration has failed to stop the harassment, abductions, and killings of opposition figures.

Last year, she pledged to investigate reports of abductions, but no arrests have been made in those cases, including Lissu’s 2017 attack.

CHADEMA has said it will boycott the October general elections unless sweeping reforms are made to ensure a level electoral playing field, which it says currently favours the ruling party. An exact date for the vote has not been announced.