Trending 
Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu went on trial for treason on Monday in the capital, Dar es Salaam, just weeks before national elections that his party has been barred from contesting.
Lissu, who came second in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested in April and charged with treason over what prosecutors claim was a speech in which he allegedly urged the public to rebel and disrupt the upcoming polls.
The opposition figure, who heads the CHADEMA party, has denied the charges. His lawyer described the case as politically motivated, saying it was an attempt to silence dissent.
According to CHADEMA, the court was expected to begin hearing testimony from the first state witnesses on Monday. In a statement issued late on Sunday, the party said Lissu remained “firm, steadfast, and ready” for the trial, which could last several weeks.
As proceedings began, tensions flared outside the courthouse. One of Lissu’s lawyers, Jebra Kambole, told Reuters that some supporters were “beaten and blocked from entering the courtroom.”
The court has banned live coverage of the trial at the request of state prosecutors, citing the need to protect the identities of witnesses.
Lissu, a veteran opposition leader and human rights advocate, has long been a prominent critic of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has governed Tanzania since independence in 1961. He had previously vowed to boycott the upcoming election unless major reforms were made to what he described as a biased electoral process favouring the CCM and President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
“The electoral process as it stands cannot deliver a fair result,” Lissu said in earlier remarks, accusing the authorities of undermining democracy.
Lissu’s political career has been marked by resilience. In 2017, he survived an assassination attempt after being shot 16 times, an attack for which no one has ever been charged.
His detention and the reported abductions of government critics over the past year have placed renewed scrutiny on President Hassan’s human rights record. Though praised early in her presidency for easing restrictions on opposition and the press after the repressive rule of her predecessor, John Magufuli, Hassan now faces mounting criticism from activists and international observers.
In April, Tanzania’s electoral commission barred CHADEMA from participating in the upcoming poll, saying the party had failed to sign a required code of conduct. The commission also disqualified the leader of the country’s second-largest opposition party, leaving President Hassan to face only minor challengers on October 28.
While Hassan insists her government is “committed to respecting human rights,” she has yet to release findings from an investigation she ordered last year into reports of abductions and enforced disappearances.
As Lissu’s trial unfolds under tight security and limited media access, the proceedings have become a litmus test for Tanzania’s democratic space — and a defining moment for the credibility of its upcoming election.
