Tanzania’s main opposition leader Tundu Lissu ought to have been released from detention after a High Court in Dar es Salaam acquitted him of the more serious offence of treason, PLP Party Leader Martha Karua says.
While condemning the ruling delivered on Friday, November 6, Karua said the court erred in its decision to acquit Lissu of treason charges while convicting him of the lesser offense of incitement and sentencing him to four years in prison.
According to the People’s Liberation Party (PLP) Leader, the ruling raises serious questions about the continued detention of Lissu, who has been in custody since April 2025, accusing President Samia Suluhu’s administration of using the criminal justice system to suppress political competition.
“The acquittal confirms that there was no case to warrant Mr. Lissu’s incarceration for over a year or to justify barring him and his party from participating in elections,” Karua said. “He should be set at liberty forthwith.”
Karua further condemned the conviction and sentence, describing them as a travesty of justice and evidence of continued political persecution.
“The conviction on incitement and the sentence are a travesty of justice. They confirm that this is a case of political persecution whose objective is to keep Mr. Lissu in jail, continue intimidating his party, and completely obliterate political competition in Tanzania.”
Karua noted that the ruling must be understood against the wider context of shrinking democratic space in Tanzania, including the exclusion of CHADEMA from the 2025 elections and the continued intimidation of opposition voices.
She warned that the use of state institutions and criminal proceedings to weaken political opponents undermines the foundations of democracy, not only in Tanzania but across the East African region.
“Democracy cannot exist where opposition leaders are imprisoned, political parties are intimidated, and citizens are denied a meaningful choice at the ballot. Political competition is not a crime; it is an essential pillar of democracy.”
Karua, an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, called for Lissu’s immediate release. She argues that an acquittal should not become a change of charge designed to achieve the same outcome: keeping an opposition leader behind bars.
“Democracy is not a one-party performance; it requires genuine competition, free from intimidation and political persecution. Let Lissu walk free. Democracy must be won through the ballot, not enforced through prison walls.”
