A Tanzanian court ordered a media blackout during the next phase of the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu after prosecutors asked to conceal the identity of witnesses.
Principal Resident Magistrate Franco Kiswaga of the Kisutu court in commercial hub Dar es Salaam ordered the halt of live streaming and publication of court proceedings to protect prosecution witnesses.
Committal proceedings, which began on Monday after a four-month delay, will pave the way for the hearing of the case to start at the High Court where Lissu would be allowed to enter a plea.
The leader of the main opposition Chadema party has been detained at a maximum security prison since being charged with treason in April. He faces the possibility of a death sentence by hanging if convicted.
Lissu, a lawyer, is defending himself in the case and objected to the orders, saying they were intended to condemn him to death without a fair trial.
His party says the treason charges are politically motivated with the intention of barring Lissu from participating in the Oct. 29 presidential election.
Lissu, who survived an assassination attempt in 2017, was arrested at a Chadema party rally agitating for electoral reforms ahead of the vote. He’s called for a non-violent civil disobedience movement to block elections until the government implements key demands, including the independence of the electoral body.
In response, authorities accuse Lissu of threatening a treasonous rebellion through his party’s “No Reform, No Election” campaign.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who’s seeking a second term in office, has warned that her administration won’t tolerate dissent in the run-up to the polls. While she lifted a ban on political rallies and some newspapers after succeeding the autocratic John Magufuli in 2021, opposition leaders accuse her of rowing back on promised democratic reforms.
| Bloomberg
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