DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania- Amnesty International has condemned the conviction and four-year prison sentence handed to Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, calling the verdict the result of a deeply flawed and unfair judicial process.
Lissu, the chairperson of Chadema, Tanzania’s main opposition party, was acquitted of treason by the High Court of Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam Sub-Registry on Friday but convicted of the lesser offence of incitement.
The three-judge panel, led by Justice Dunstan Ndunguru, found that prosecutors had not proved the intent required to sustain the treason charge.
It nonetheless convicted Lissu of incitement under Section 390 of the Penal Code and sentenced him to four years in prison.
The court relied on Section 319 of Tanzania’s Criminal Procedure Act, which permits a court to convict an accused person of a lesser offence where the evidence establishes it.
Prosecutors had argued that Lissu’s statements before Tanzania’s 2025 General Election urged supporters to disrupt the vote.
Lissu denied wrongdoing, maintaining that his remarks were legitimate political expression and that the case against him was politically motivated.
Amnesty challenges fairness of trial
Reacting to the verdict, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, said Lissu should not have been arrested, prosecuted or convicted.
“Today’s verdict and four-year prison sentence are the culmination of a deeply flawed process that was unjust from the moment of his arrest,” Chagutah said.
Amnesty said Lissu had spent 577 days in what it described as arbitrary detention for peacefully exercising his rights.
The rights group further alleged that Lissu was denied confidential access to his lawyers, leaving him effectively to represent himself.
It said live broadcasts of the proceedings were disconnected and that at least two international trial observers were arbitrarily arrested, allegedly tortured and deported.
Amnesty also said Lissu was held in inhumane conditions in a death-row cell and had limited access to religious services.
The organisation said those factors meant the conviction could not be considered the outcome of a fair trial.
It called on Tanzanian authorities to quash the conviction and sentence, release Lissu immediately and unconditionally, and stop what it termed the misuse of treason and other laws to silence government critics.
Arrest followed election boycott call
Lissu was arrested on April 9, 2025, while addressing a public rally in Mbinga, in Tanzania’s Ruvuma Region, before being transferred overnight to Dar es Salaam.
He was formally charged with treason the following day over statements linked to his call for a boycott of the October 2025 election, amid concerns about electoral malpractice.
Because treason is non-bailable under Tanzanian law, Lissu remained in custody throughout the case, first at Keko Prison and later at Ukonga Prison.
His detention became a major point of political tension before the election, alongside Chadema’s exclusion from the vote and allegations by rights groups that government critics were abducted.
The Tanzanian government has rejected accusations of a wider crackdown on dissent and has denied that security forces used excessive force during the election-related unrest.
Chadema plans appeal
Chadema has said it will appeal the conviction and seek bail for Lissu pending the outcome of the appeal.
The ruling removes the risk of the death penalty attached to the treason charge, but it ensures that one of Tanzania’s most prominent opposition figures remains behind bars at a time of heightened scrutiny over political freedoms, due process and the treatment of government critics.
