Tanzanian Opposition Leader Lissu Charged With Treason

Tanzania's main opposition leader Tundu Lissu was charged on Thursday with treason, which carries the death penalty, a day after being detained following a rally, one of his lawyers told AFP.

The east African nation has increasingly cracked down on its opposition, with Lissu's Chadema party accusing President Samia Suluhu Hassan of returning to the repressive tactics of her predecessor months before October's general election.

Lissu and other party members were detained on Wednesday after attending a rally in Mbinga, a town in the southern Ruvuma region, where Chadema said police officers dispersed the crowds with tear gas.

"Lissu has been charged with treason which has no bail," one of Lissu's lawyers Jebra Kambole told AFP following his appearance in court in the economic capital Dar es Salaam.

While Lissu has been arrested before -- and usually released soon after -- this is the first time he has faced such a serious charge.

Kambole added that Lissu had also been charged with the "publication of false information" but did not give details.

Earlier, regional police commander Marco Chilya told reporters the opposition leader was questioned "regarding allegations of inciting the population to block the general elections".

Tanzanian human rights lawyer Tito Magoti said on X the "plan is to dump him in jail for President Suluhu to party without opposition."

"This is, yet again, a sad day for our democracy."

Tanzania is scheduled to hold presidential and national assembly elections in October. President Hassan's party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) swept local elections last year.

Chadema said the elections had been manipulated, and would petition the High Court to demand reforms ahead of the upcoming polls.

Lissu warned last year Chadema would "block the elections through confrontation" unless the electoral system was reformed.

The opposition's demands have long been ignored by the ruling party.

Lissu was elected Chadema chairman in January, replacing longtime leader Freeman Mbowe.

A trained lawyer and former MP between 2010 and 2017, when he survived an assassination attempt, Lissu has been detained by authorities several times. He was a presidential candidate in 2020.

He was arrested in November ahead of local polls, and was briefly detained in September after riot police prevented a rally in Dar es Salaam.

Officers have repeatedly and forcibly broken up rallies, Chadema says.

Hassan was initially feted for easing restrictions that her predecessor John Magufuli had imposed on the opposition and the media in the country of 67 million people.

But rights groups and Western governments have criticised what they see as renewed repression, with the arrests of Chadema politicians as well as abductions and murders of opposition figures.