On November 6, Tundu Lissu, leader of Tanzania‘s main opposition Chadema party, was sentenced to four years in prison for incitement following heavy unrest during the October 2025 elections.
The same day, he was cleared of treason charges — which could have meant a death sentence if he had been found guilty.
Lissu commented that the judiciary had acted under pressure; he rejected the verdict due to the fact that incitement was not among the charges which had brought against him at the start of his trial in 2025.
Chadema officials have now signaled an intention to appeal the court decision. The government has not issued a statement on his conviction yet.
Tanzania’s most dramatic trial in decades
Few opposition figures have shaped modern Tanzanian politics as dramatically as Lissu. A lawyer by training and one of the country’s most outspoken critics of the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Lissu has spent years challenging the political establishment.
Over the years, he has been subjected to repeated arrest and detention; in 2017, he survived an attempt on his life by unknown gunmen outside his residence in the capital Dodoma, sustaining multiple bullet wounds.
More recently, his trial in the run-up to the October 2025 general election continued to keep him and the opposition in the public eye following his arrest in April 2025 in the southwestern town of Mbinga.
Why was Tundu Lissu arrested?
Prosecuters accused Lissu of encouraging the public to prevent the 2025 election from taking place and charged him with one count of treason.
As legal evidence, they cited social media posts he had made, in which he was seen to be calling on Tanzanians to boycott the vote over concerns about possible electoral malpractice.
In the end, the election went ahead without Chadema on October 29, which was marred by violence on an unprecedented in scale in Tanzania; security forces even used live ammunition on protesters.
Francis Ibrahim, an independent political analyst based in Dar es Salaam, told DW that “heads have to roll from the law enforcement side, who overstretched their mandate, all the way to the people, who financed, planned and organized [this crackdown].”
But after a nationwide internet shutdown and curfew following the election violence, incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan was named winner with 98% of the vote.
What does the verdict mean for democracy?
Ibrahim believes that the removal of the capital treason charge could be interpreted as a move towards rapprochment with voters.
“What I can tell you is that they are looking for a political deescalation that could solve the crisis,” he explained, adding that Lissu might yet get to have a small say in politics after all:
“There has to be a process of [creating] a new constitution, and it needs everybody on the table,” he said, adding that Lissu might therefore perhaps be released early in order to partake in discussions and negotiations.
However when in late July, President Suluhu Hassan met with representatives of more than a dozen political parties to discuss national reconciliation and constitutional reform, Chadema officials were explicitly not party to the consultations.
Politics at play behind the verdict?
Public opinion meanwhile varies on Lissu’s verdict, with many Tanzanians however saying that the trial was politically motivated in their view.
Ruqaya Mohammed, the National Deputy Secretary of the oppsition ACT-Wazalendo party’s youth wing, told DW, “ee are getting into a darker space in our political arena.”
“I think it’s the right time now, as a nation, to have open dialogue on some reforms, on the legal perspective and electoral reforms. Maybe if we manage … that, we can see a light,” she explained.
Most others, however, remain reluctant to go on record for fear of reprisal; a musician and human rights advocate was among few who agreed to speak to DW — on the strict condition of anonymity.
In his view, Tanzanians simply are not free to express themselves publicly at all: “You saw the terror atmosphere and climate of fear outside the court premises when Tundu’s judgement was … read. Such is the broader display of what Tanzania looks like,” he told DW.
“Opposition politics has been suppressed for years, and his conviction is just a continuation of what has been happening. It’s a miracle that he is still alive. To put him in jail from four years is far from the worst-case scenario.”
This article has been adapted from an episode of DW’s AfricaLink podcast.
Source: www.dw.com
