Tanzania court orders an opposition leader facing treason charges to appear in person

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

A magistrate court in Tanzania on Tuesday ordered that an opposition leader who was charged with treason last month be brought to court in person next month after he went on hunger strike to protest against virtual hearings.

Opposition leader Tundu Lissu was arrested on April 9 after calling for electoral reforms before a general election in October and was charged with treason, a charge for which bail isn’t available.

Lissu’s party, Chadema, has been outspoken about electoral reforms, arrests and detentions of opposition politicians before the vote in which President Samia Hassan is seeking election after serving out her first term in office.

Chadema officials were arrested and brutally beaten by police last month as they drove to court for a scheduled hearing of Lissu’s treason case. They were later released without being charged.

The magistrate’s court on Tuesday ordered prison authorities to present Lissu for a hearing of his case on May 19.

The magistrate said that members of the public will be allowed to attend the hearing, unlike last month’s session which the public was barred from by the police.

This will be the first time that Lissu will appear in court in person since his arrest. The last hearing was canceled after he protested against a virtual hearing.

Over the weekend, Lissu’s lawyers had said that he would embark on a hunger strike to demand that his case is heard in court and not virtually.

Senior lawyer Peter Kibatala, who is one of 31 lawyers on the case, said that they weren’t allowed to speak freely with their client in prison.

“The last time we were forced to conduct our conversation in English,” Kibatala said.

Human rights activists have accused the government of Hassan of heavy-handed tactics against the opposition. The government denies the claims.

The European Union Parliament is set to hold an urgent debate on Wednesday, May 7 regarding treason case facing Tanzania’s chief opposition leader, Tundu Lissu.

Under agenda heading - Arrest and risk of execution of Tundu Lissu, Chair of Chadema, the main opposition party in Tanzania; the debate will address concerns around human rights, democracy and political oppression under President Hassan.

In 2017, three years before the last election, Lissu survived an assassination attempt after being shot 16 times. His party has been critical of laws that favor the ruling CCM party, which has been in power since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.