Martha Karua Calls for Immediate Release of Tanzanian Opposition Leader Tundu Lissu

Kenyan People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua demanded on Friday November 6, 2026 that Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu be released immediately after a High Court in Dar es Salaam acquitted him of treason but sentenced him to four years in prison for incitement.

Karua, a former Kenyan Justice Minister and presidential hopeful for the 2027 election, said the acquittal shows there was no case to justify Lissu’s incarceration for over a year or to bar his party from participating in elections.

She condemned the four-year incitement sentence as a travesty of justice and described the case as political persecution intended to keep Lissu in jail and intimidate his party, CHADEMA.

Karua warned that using criminal proceedings to suppress opposition threatens democracy across East Africa, noting the exclusion of CHADEMA from the 2025 Tanzanian general election and stating that democracy cannot exist where opposition leaders are imprisoned and parties are intimidated.

She added that an acquittal should not become a change of charge designed to achieve the same outcome and appealed directly for Lissu’s freedom, saying “Let Lissu walk free.”

The Tanzanian High Court, sitting as a three-judge panel, found prosecutors had failed to prove a key element of treason and therefore cleared Lissu of that charge, but convicted him of incitement for urging the public to disrupt the October 2025 election with the slogan “No Reforms, No Election,” imposing a four-year term.

Lissu, CHADEMA chairman, told the court the incitement offence was manufactured by the judges and indicated he would apply for bail, having been granted leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

He has been detained since his arrest in April 2025 after launching a campaign for electoral reforms; his case has drawn international scrutiny amid allegations of political repression after President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s 98 percent victory in the disputed October 2025 election and subsequent unrest that an official inquiry said left at least 500 dead.

While held at Ukonga Prison, Lissu embarked on hunger strikes over restrictions on lawyer and family visits and alleged that guards listened to confidential consultations, claims prison authorities denied.

The conviction leaves Lissu serving the four-year term while he pursues an appeal at Tanzania’s Court of Appeal, the country’s highest court.