Tanzania’s opposition leader Tundu Lissu ‘isolated’ in Ukonga Prison, claims Chadema
Tanzania’s Chadema party alleges its chair Tundu Lissu is being isolated at Ukonga Prison after officials were denied visits, a claim the Prisons Service spokesperson has publicly rejected.
Tanzania's main opposition party, Chadema, has accused President Samia Suluhu’s government of isolating its national chairman, Tundu Lissu, after prison authorities allegedly blocked senior party officials from visiting him at Ukonga Prison in Dar es Salaam.
Lissu has been in remand custody for almost eight months on treason charges, following his arrest in April 2025 during a party tour in the Ruvuma region.
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In a statement on X on Sunday, Chadema claimed that several officials, including Secretary-General John Mnyika and central committee member Godbless Lema, were turned away when they recently attempted to visit Lissu.
"Chadema informs the public and the international community that the government, through the prisons service, has prevented party leaders from seeing the national chairperson, Hon. Tundu Antipas Lissu, at Ukonga Prison," the statement, issued by Chadema's Director of Communication and Publicity, Brenda Rupia, reads.
"In recent days, party leaders, including a Member of the Central Committee, Hon. Godbless Lema, and the Secretary-General, Hon. John Mnyika, have been blocked from entering Ukonga Prison to meet Chairman Lissu."
According to the party, officers at the prison gate reportedly informed Mnyika on Sunday that they had been given clear instructions not to allow any Chadema leader to see Lissu.
"This action represents an unusual restriction that violates the basic rights of a detainee to be visited and seen by relatives and associates while in prison," the party said.
"Chadema considers this measure a violation of the fundamental rights of prisoners and detainees, and an abuse of state machinery to oppress opposition politicians."
The party has since urged the Tanzanian Prisons Service to explain why access to Lissu has been restricted, and called on both local and international stakeholders to pay close attention to the development as a worrying sign for Tanzania's political future.
"Chadema informs its members and citizens that it will take legal, political, and diplomatic measures to ensure the rights of Hon. Lissu and other party leaders are not violated," the statement added.
According to The Monitor, Tanzania Prisons Service spokesperson Elizabeth Mbezi has denied the allegations.
"I have no information about any restriction, and I have no information about leaders going to see him and being blocked," she said.
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