Tanzania's Chadema slams closed-door trial as court bars live broadcasts of Tundu Lissu case

Tanzania’s treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu is now unfolding behind closed doors.

On August 18, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam barred live broadcasts of the high-profile case, citing the need to protect state witnesses.

Presiding magistrate Franco Kiswaga ruled that "live streaming, live broadcast, and any other kind of live distribution" would no longer be permitted.

The order followed a request from state prosecutors, who argued that concealing witness identities was crucial for their security.

Lissu, representing himself after dismissing his legal team, condemned the ruling, saying the ban would plunge the trial into "darkness," enabling the state to run what he called a "kangaroo court."

His Chadema party, Tanzania’s largest opposition bloc, backed his criticism, warning that the restrictions undermine the principle that justice must be seen to be done.

The stakes in the case are unusually high.

Lissu, detained since April, is charged with treason and spreading false information—offences that, if proven, could carry the death penalty.

He maintains the charges are politically motivated, designed to sideline him ahead of October’s elections in which President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seeking another term.

A longtime critic of the ruling CCM party, Lissu survived an assassination attempt in 2017 when he was shot multiple times.

While President Samia’s government insists the case is strictly about law and order, critics argue the media blackout deepens fears that Tanzania’s judiciary is being reduced to a stage-managed extension of executive power.

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