Tanzanian opposition party says whereabouts of its leaders unknown

Lissu, runner-up in the country's 2020 presidential election, was charged with treason last week over what prosecutors said was a speech calling on the public to launch a rebellion and disrupt the election. He was not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge.
Tanzania’s main opposition party said on Friday it could not establish the whereabouts of its leader Tundu Lissu after he was moved from a jail where he was being held following his arrest on treason charges last week.
Senior CHADEMA party officials, his lawyers and family members said they tried unsuccessfully on different occasions on Friday to get access to him at a jail in the capital Dar es Salaam where he has been held since April 9.
More To Read
- EU Parliament demands release of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu
- Tanzania's main opposition party calls election ban unconstitutional
- Tanzania's opposition cries foul after CCM election victory
- Tanzanian opposition leaders Freeman Mbowe, Tundu Lissu arrested
- Samia tells off US, Western nations over 'interference in Tanzania’s domestic affairs'
- Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu condemns murder of abducted CHADEMA official
Prison service authorities could not be reached for immediate comment.
Government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa did not immediately respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.
"CHADEMA would like the Prisons Service, concerned government agencies to give information on where Lissu has been taken," the party said in a statement.
Lissu, runner-up in the country's 2020 presidential election, was charged with treason last week over what prosecutors said was a speech calling on the public to launch a rebellion and disrupt the election. He was not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge.
The charges against him will bring fresh scrutiny to President Samia Suluhu Hassan's human rights record as she bids for re-election later this year.
Last weekend, the election commission said CHADEMA would be disqualified from elections due in October over its refusal to sign a code of conduct as it demands electoral reforms.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan won praise after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship of the media that proliferated under her predecessor, John Magufuli, who died in office.
But she has faced mounting criticism from human rights activists over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents.
President Samia has said the government is committed to respecting human rights and she ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year.
Top Stories Today
- Nairobi County admits building violations by city's high-rise buildings
- UDA to conduct repeat grassroots elections in Mombasa, Tana River on May 17
- Bobi Wine presses EU to act on Uganda’s human rights violations
- Winnie Odinga's EALA reality check reveals deeper crisis in regional legislature
- Kenyan court orders extradition of ex-Afghan deputy speaker wanted in US for drug trafficking
- WFP warns 52 million people face severe hunger crisis in West and Central Africa
- CJ Koome urges collective action against rising gender-based violence cases
- Deputy Governors seek constitutional changes to have clear mandates
- Funding shortfall leaves Somali women, children facing death
- City Hall to freeze accounts, auction properties over Sh50bn arrears
- Sh40.7bn budget shortfall threatens military recruitment, operations
- Kenya’s security at risk as regional instability grows, warns NIS boss
- Supreme Court Judge Ouko warns of eroding public trust due to case delays
- Palestine lifts ban on Al Jazeera's operations in Palestinian territories
- Kenya aims to quadruple tea exports to China by 2030
- KNEC announces July, August deadlines for 2025 CBC assessments
- Kenya, Dominican Republic seal pact to boost Haiti Mission support
- Clinical officers petition Senate over discrimination, delayed posting of interns
- NIS Chief admits Oromo Liberation Army occupying Kenyan territory
- Treasury’s Sh600 million budget cut threatens school feeding expansion