Tanzania convicts opposition leader Tundu Lissu of incitement, acquits him of treason

Conviction on a lesser count

The High Court in Dar es Salaam found Chadema leader Tundu Lissu guilty of incitement on Friday, 6 November 2026, and sentenced him to four years in prison. The three-judge panel cleared him of treason, a charge that carried a possible death sentence. Al Jazeera reported that the judge left the door open to an appeal, and the BBC noted that Lissu has leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, the country's highest court. Notícias ao Minuto reported that the incitement offence carries up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.

“We are satisfied that through his statements, the accused intended to disrupt elections and instigate violence.”

The presiding judge, Dunstan Ndunguru, read the finding that the accused had committed the lesser offence, and the court's reasoning focused on the content of Lissu's speeches.

The charges and the arrest

Lissu was detained in April 2025 as he finished a speech at a rally, and prosecutors filed a treason count the following day, 10 April 2025. Prosecutors argued that his remarks, which also circulated online, amounted to treason and were meant to incite people to disrupt the vote and threaten the government. The judges did not accept the treason case, holding that the prosecution had offered no evidence backing those allegations. The incitement finding rests on his call to disrupt the general election held on 29 October 2025, which he said would be marred by fraud.

Lissu's defence and detention

Lissu, a lawyer, represented himself during the trial and maintained that his speeches were part of a campaign for constitutional and electoral reform. He argued that prosecutors had taken his words out of context. The campaign ran under the slogan "No Reforms, No Election", according to the BBC. He told the court that the case was built to silence him.

“Excuses were created to imprison me.”

Held at Ukonga Prison in Dar es Salaam, he twice went on brief hunger strikes, saying he was denied access to his lawyers or relatives, and he complained that guards listened in on private consultations with his lawyers. He ended a brief hunger strike on 27 October, according to his lead lawyer. Accounts of his time in custody differ, with Al Jazeera putting it at 19 months and another report saying more than 18 months.

Election and the death toll

Chadema was excluded from the October 2025 election after refusing to sign a new electoral code of conduct, which the party said left out the reforms it demanded. President Samia Suluhu Hassan won with 98% of the vote, and the opposition dismissed the result as a "mockery" of democracy. The election triggered protests and deadly violence. An inquiry reported in April that at least 518 people had died. Mohamed Chande Othman, who leads that inquiry, argued the real figure may be greater, since some relatives were interred without the bodies reaching mortuaries.

Inquiry report (April)518

Chadema estimate2,000

Inquiry report (April)

518 deaths

Chadema estimate

2000 deaths

Data from the article text

The opposition puts the toll at around 2,000, a claim the United Nations said it could not verify because of insecurity and an internet shutdown. The UN has also called for an investigation into the killings and reports that police moved bodies from mortuaries to undisclosed locations.

Reaction and what comes next

Heavy security surrounded the court in Dar es Salaam before the verdict as Lissu's supporters gathered for the hearing. British and European Union lawmakers described the case as politically motivated and called for his immediate release. Lissu was nominated this year for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, according to Notícias ao Minuto. He can take the conviction to the Court of Appeal.