Tanzania arrests prominent opposition leader after calling for election reforms at rally
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (AP) – Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu was detained on Thursday and was arrested by police ahead of a general election planned for October.
Lissu, chairman of the main opposition party Chadema, has not been prosecuted in court and his party calls for immediate release.
Regional police said Thursday that Lissu was arrested for incitement and questioned.
The opposition in Tanzania has been calling for election reforms to ensure that the upcoming polls are free and fair.
Lis had just held a public rally in Mbinga, more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the commercial capital Dar Es Salaam, when Riot police forced him into a police car.
“I came here and we had a peaceful meeting and now I understand the police’s strategy. We are very clear about the situation now; I won’t get into the vehicle. It doesn’t need to. We’ll sleep here. What’s the problem?” Liss asked the police, before his supporters were tear-jerking.
Chadema’s vice chairman John Heche posted on X that Lissu may face charges of treason during the meeting, noting that “no reform, no elections, no retreat.”
Human rights activists accuse President Samia Suluhu Hassan of using violent tactics against the opposition. The government denies the claim.
In 2017, three years before the last election, Lissu survived 16 shots.
Tanzania will elect president and parliamentarians in the October general election. Chadema has been criticizing the lack of an independent election commission and law that favors the ruling party CCM, which has been in power since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.
