Tanzania court jails opposition leader for incitement, lifts treason charge

Dismissal of treason charge means Tundu Lissu avoids threat of death penalty in a trial that has drawn international condemnation. The ruling was handed down on Friday in a trial closely watched internationally, during which the court dismissed a charge of treason that carried the threat of a death sentence. “We are satisfied that through his statements, the accused intended to disrupt elections and instigate violence,” the judge told a courtroom packed with Lissu’s supporters.

Lissu, who heads the main opposition party, Chadema, responded that the trial was “political persecution”, accusing the judges of following orders from the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. “I was not charged with incitement but you judges are convicting me with it just to impress the person who gives you the titles. I believe these were directives,” he said.

Lissu was arrested before last year’s presidential vote, in which Hassan was re-elected, and has spent 19 months in jail.