Tundu Lissu: Tanzania opposition chief discovered guilty of incitement at treason trial

The Chadema chief was arrested six months before the ballot, shortly after launching a marketing campaign demanding adjustments to the electoral system under the slogan “No Reforms, No Election”.

Prosecutors accused him of making statements meant to incite the public to disrupt the election and threaten the authorities.

They argued that his remarks, which were also circulated online, amounted to treason.

But Lissu, a lawyer who represented himself during the trial, maintained that his feedback were half of a professional political marketing campaign for constitutional and electoral reform.

He argued that prosecutors had taken his statements out of context and failed to show that he had dedicated any crime.

Some of the calls for raised by Chadema were:

During his time in remand custody at Dar es Salaam’s Ukonga Prison, Lissu went on starvation strike twice for transient intervals when he said he was not allowed access to his legal professionals or kin. He also complained that guards listened to what should have been non-public consultations his legal professionals.

These allegations have been denied by the prison authorities.

His case has attracted worldwide consideration, with rights teams expressing concern about the therapy of opposition politicians and the shrinking space for political dissent in Tanzania.

Last yr’s election was adopted by widespread protests and a violent security crackdown that left at least 500 people lifeless, according to an official inquiry.

Opposition teams have said the death toll was much greater and demanded an unbiased investigation.

The authorities has defended its handling of the unrest and rejected accusations of widespread political repression.

Samia, 66, has insisted the election was honest and clear and blamed foreigners for the unrest, saying it was half of a plot to overthrow her. She has set up another commission to inquiry to determine those behind the violence.

Lissu has long been one of Tanzania’s most outspoken critics of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) social gathering, which, along with its predecessor Tanu, has dominated the nation’s politics since independence.

He first turned an MP in 2010, representing a constituency close to his beginning place in Singida, 320km (200 miles) north-west of the capital, Dodoma.

In September 2017, the Chadema politician narrowly survived an assassination attempt when gunmen sprayed his vehicle with bullets outside his home in Dodoma.

He was shot a number of instances and underwent in depth medical therapy overseas.

The attack, whose perpetrators have never been introduced to justice, pressured him to spend years outside Tanzania.

He returned to contest the 2020 presidential election against the late President John Magufuli, but lost in a vote that the opposition alleged was marred by widespread irregularities.

Lissu subsequently returned to exile before coming back to Tanzania in 2023, following President Samia’s determination to carry a ban on opposition political rallies.

His return was initially seen as a signal of renewed political openness after years of restrictions under Magufuli, who died in workplace in 2021.

But relations between the authorities and the opposition deteriorated as the nation approached the 2025 election.

Lissu turned Chadema’s national chairman in January 2025 and intensified his calls for for electoral reforms.

His conviction is probably to deepen considerations about the state of democracy in Tanzania.

Last week, rights group Amnesty International accused the authorities of persevering with its crackdown following the election and “weaponising counterterrorism laws to silence critics and instil fear”.

The authorities did not reply to a request for remark.