Lissu, who faces treason cost carrying a doable demise sentence, refused meals after being denied entry to attorneys.
Revealed On 27 Oct 2026
Tanzania’s jailed opposition chief Tundu Lissu has ended a short starvation strike after jail authorities allowed him to fulfill privately along with his attorneys, his lawyer has stated.
Lissu, who leads the opposition’s Get together for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA) and got here second within the 2020 presidential election, started refusing meals on Monday after his attorneys have been denied entry to the jail the place he’s being held, celebration spokesperson Brenda Rupia wrote on X.
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“Lissu didn’t take his tea, breakfast or lunch,” his lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala instructed The Related Press on Tuesday. Nshala stated Lissu ended the strike after lunchtime, following the assembly along with his brother.
His detention, together with the alleged abductions of authorities critics, has led to scrutiny of the human rights document of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who gained a 2025 election.
The federal government has rejected accusations of widespread abuses and stated it’s dedicated to respecting human rights. It ordered an investigation into stories of abductions in 2024, although no official findings have been made public.
‘Treason’
Accounts of Lissu’s protest have differed. Whereas CHADEMA spokesperson Rupia stated on X that Lissu started refusing meals on Monday, Nshala instructed AP that the strike started on Tuesday morning, after promised non-public consultations did not happen.
Tanzania’s prisons service denied the stories, telling the Swahili-language each day Mwananchi that Lissu was secure and was not on starvation strike.
Nshala had raised considerations about Lissu’s well being, saying he depends on medicine.
Lissu survived being shot 16 occasions in a 2017 assassination try. He was arrested in April 2025 after addressing a rally calling for electoral reforms, and was charged with treason over what prosecutors stated was a speech urging the general public to insurgent and disrupt final yr’s common election.
He has pleaded not responsible, and his attorneys say the costs are politically motivated. A judgement is due on November 6.
On Tuesday, CHADEMA introduced seven days of mourning, from Thursday to November 4, to mark the anniversary of the October 29 election. A government-appointed inquiry discovered that no less than 518 folks have been killed within the violence that adopted the vote. CHADEMA places the demise toll at about 2,000, a determine the United Nations stated it couldn’t confirm.
