Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu was found guilty of incitement by the High Court in Dar es Salaam on November 6, 2026, while being acquitted of treason. The three-judge panel said prosecutors had not proved a key element of the more serious charge, according to the BBC.
The judges were still delivering their ruling, and had not yet announced the reasoning for the incitement conviction or the sentence. Lissu has the right to appeal to Tanzania’s Court of Appeal, the country’s highest court. Treason is among the country’s most serious offences and can carry the death penalty.
Lissu, 58, leads the opposition Chadema party and has been in detention since April 2025. The case arose from remarks he made while campaigning for electoral reforms ahead of the October 2025 general election. Prosecutors said his statements, including material shared online, were intended to incite disruption of the election and threaten the government.
He denied the charges and represented himself at trial, arguing that his comments were part of a legitimate campaign for constitutional and electoral reform. His campaign used the slogan “No Reforms, No Election” and called for changes including independent appointments of electoral commissioners and allowing presidential election results to be challenged in court.
Lissu was arrested about six months before the election. President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner with 98% of the vote, after Lissu and another leading challenger were excluded. Opposition groups rejected the result. Protests followed, and an official inquiry put the death toll from the subsequent security crackdown at at least 500; opposition groups have said the toll was higher.
Nicole French