Tanzania arrests 2 senior opposition officials ahead of party leader’s treason trial
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (AP) – Tanzania’s main opposition party said on Thursday that two of its top officials were arrested in court to participate in a lawsuit against its party leader, who faces treason and charges of treason, which calls for reforms ahead of the October election.
Tundu Lissu, the opposition’s leader of the Chadema Party, who lived in exiles since 2017 for threats to life, returned to Tanzania last year and was arrested on April 9 after a public rally called for election reforms. He was charged with treason, which was sentenced to death.
The party’s spokesman Brenda Rupia wrote on X on Thursday that Chadema’s vice-chairman John Heche and Secretary-General John Mnyika were arrested and their whereabouts remain unknown.
Authorities have not confirmed the arrests so far, and the Associated Press has not been able to access government officials for comment.
Meanwhile, Lissu refused to actually appear in court, and later postponed the lawsuit until April 28. He is represented by a team of 31 lawyers led by Mpale Mpoki, who objected to the case.
Rupia said Dar Es Salaam was violently acted when riot police defeated opposition supporters and dozens of people were injured, outside the courts in the country’s commercial capital.
Human rights activists accuse the government of denying Samia Suluhu Hassan’s heavy strategy against the opposition.
Hassan died in 2021 and served as his despotic predecessor, John Magufuli. The next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in October.
Chadema criticized the absence of an independent election commission and the law favoring the ruling party CCM, which has been in power since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.
