Tanzania expels international activists who back an opposition leader who is imprisoned

Human rights advocates from Kenya and Uganda who had come to Dar es Salaam to watch a hearing in the treason case against incarcerated opposition leader Tundu Lissu were arrested and then deported by Tanzanian police, according to advocacy groups.

In a case that has brought attention to what government critics claim is an increasing crackdown on President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s opponents, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan attorney Agather Atuhaire traveled to Dar es Salaam on Monday to witness Lissu’s initial court hearing.

On Tuesday, the chairman of Tanzania’s Law Society announced the deportation of Mwangi and Atuhaire.

“Both individuals have been repatriated under the escort and supervision of officers from the Tanzania Immigration Services Department,” in a statement posted on his X account, Boniface Mwabukusi, president of the Tanzania Law Society.

Paul Mselle, the top spokesperson for Tanzania’s Immigration Services Department, stated that he will investigate the arrests of Mwangi and Atuhaire but was unaware of them. When questioned about their deportations, he remained silent.

Requests for comment from Reuters were not immediately answered by government and police spokespeople.

Lissu, who finished second in Tanzania’s most recent presidential election and was wounded sixteen times in a 2017 attack, was accused of treason in April for allegedly making a speech in which he urged the populace to resist and sabotage the October elections.

Lissu told his supporters not to be afraid at the hearing on Monday. Reporters were later informed by his attorney that the hearing had been postponed until June 2.

ARRESTS

Mwangi and Atuhaire were detained in the central police station in Dar es Salaam, according to a statement released late Monday by the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC).

According to the report, Mwangi was detained on suspicion of fabricating information in order to enter the nation. The reason for Atuhaire’s detention was unclear.

Mwangi, who assisted in organizing anti-government demonstrations in Kenya last year, wrote on X on Monday that persons posing as police officers had visited his hotel room and that he would accompany them as soon as his attorneys showed up.

In interviews or social media posts, a number of other Kenyan human rights advocates, including a former justice minister, claimed they had been turned away from Tanzania after hoping to attend Monday’s hearing.

After a string of high-profile arrests of political opponents, President Hassan, who is up for reelection in October, has stated that her government is dedicated to upholding human rights.

However, she cautioned foreign activists against “invading and interfering in our affairs” during her public statements on Monday.

Before agreeing to run in the October election, Lissu’s CHADEMA party has demanded modifications to an electoral procedure that they claim favors Tanzania’s ruling party.