{"id":5126,"date":"2026-11-06T10:11:37","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T10:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=5126"},"modified":"2026-11-06T10:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T10:11:37","slug":"tanzania-court-acquits-opposition-leader-tundu-lissu-of-treason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/06\/tanzania-court-acquits-opposition-leader-tundu-lissu-of-treason\/politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Tanzania court acquits opposition leader Tundu Lissu of treason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"865\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Tundu-Lissu-Court.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5127\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Tundu-Lissu-Court.jpeg 865w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Tundu-Lissu-Court-300x157.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Tundu-Lissu-Court-767x401.jpeg 767w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Tanzanian court has acquitted opposition leader Tundu Lissu of treason but convicted him of the lesser offence of incitement, in a ruling delivered on Friday, November 6, following a trial that lasted more than a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lissu, chairman of Tanzania\u2019s main opposition party CHADEMA, was arrested in April 2025 over remarks prosecutors said were intended to mobilise supporters to prevent the October 2025 general election from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prosecution accused him of telling supporters that the opposition would \u201cblock the election\u201d and \u201cmobilise rebellion\u201d, arguing that his statements amounted to treason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lissu denied the charges, maintaining that his speech did not break the law and that the case against him was politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its ruling, the High Court found that prosecutors had failed to prove a key element of the treason charge: that Lissu intended to intimidate the government. The court, however, found him guilty of incitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case drew national and international attention because of its connection to the political tensions surrounding Tanzania\u2019s 2025 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lissu\u2019s arrest, the alleged abductions of government critics and CHADEMA\u2019s exclusion from the election were among the issues that contributed to protests during the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hundreds of people died during the unrest, which marked one of the most serious periods of political violence in Tanzania\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A commission appointed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan reported in April that at least 518 people had been killed. The commission blamed protesters for the violence, while the government rejected allegations by human rights organisations that security forces had used excessive force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lissu\u2019s conviction on the incitement charge means that, although he has been cleared of the treason accusation, he has not been acquitted of all charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Tanzanian court has acquitted opposition leader Tundu Lissu of treason but convicted him of the lesser offence of incitement, in a ruling delivered on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,43,53,41,5,35,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news","category-current_affairs","category-featured-stories","category-hot_topics","category-politics","category-regional","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5128,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5126\/revisions\/5128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}