Tanzania opposition officials detained ahead of leader's court appearance

Tanzania's main opposition party said Thursday at least two of its officials had been arrested on their way to a rally to support leading government opponent Tundu Lissu, who is due in court to face a treason charge.

Authorities in the east African country have increasingly cracked down on the opposition Chadema party ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls in October.

Lissu could face the death penalty over the treason charge. His party has been disqualified from the upcoming elections after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct.

Chadema accuses President Samia Suluhu Hassan of returning to the repressive tactics of her predecessor, John Magufuli.

"Some of our party officials have been arrested," said Chadema spokesperson Brenda Rupia, confirming to AFP that deputy chairperson John Heche and secretary general John Mnyika were among those detained by police en route to the court in the business capital of Dar es Salaam.

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Lissu, 57, was due at Kisutu Magistrate court on Thursday with outrage growing in the country over his detention. Heche had previously urged demonstrations, and Amnesty International called for Lissu's immediate and unconditional release.

Lissu has not been seen since a brief court appearance on April 10, when he was charged with treason, which has no option of bail, and "publication of false information".

At the time, a defiant Lissu told supporters: "The treason case is a path to liberation."

He has been arrested several times in the past, but this is the first time he has faced such a serious charge.

Lissu has led a forceful charge against the government, vowing his party would not participate in polls without significant electoral reforms.

Chadema's refusal to sign an electoral "code of conduct" prompted its disqualification, but the party has said the rules were designed to "ensure that the ruling party remains in power" and that its ban was unconstitutional.

Optimism denied

The president's party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), won an overwhelming victory in local elections last year but Chadema says the vote was not free or fair since many of its candidates were disqualified.

Chadema has demanded voting reforms, including a more independent Electoral Commission and clearer rules to ensure candidates are not removed from ballots.

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

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

A lawyer by training, Lissu entered parliament in 2010 and ran for president in 2020.

He was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack that he says was ordered by his political opponents.

After losing the 2020 election to Magufuli, he fled the country but returned in 2023 on a wave of optimism as Hassan moved to relax some of her predecessor's restrictions on the opposition and the media.

Those hopes proved short-lived, with rights groups and Western governments increasingly critical of renewed repression, including the arrests of Chadema politicians as well as abductions and murders of opposition figures.

In a statement following Lissu's detention, Amnesty International condemned a "campaign of repression" by authorities, criticising the "heavy-handed tactics to silence critics".