By Rorisang Modiba
- Chadema says Tundu Lissu’s family and lawyers were turned away from prison and still can’t visit him.
- The prisons department says Lissu is safe at Keko Prison and dismisses Chadema’s claims as false.
Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, says they’ve been blocked from seeing their jailed leader Tundu Lissu, and they’re worried about his safety.
Lissu has been locked up since 9 April after a speech calling for electoral reform. Authorities charged him with treason, accusing him of trying to start an uprising.
Chadema says his lawyers and family were stopped from visiting him at Keko Prison in Dar es Salaam, and they don’t know how he’s doing.
“We haven’t been allowed to see him. His lawyers and family have all been denied access,” the party said in a statement. They are calling on the government and the prison service to make sure he is safe.
But the Prisons Service says Lissu is still at Keko.
“Tundu Lissu is safe and is still being held at Keko Prison according to the law,” they said in a statement, calling the party’s concerns “misinformation”.
Lissu came second in the 2020 presidential election and remains one of the strongest opposition voices in the country.
Pictured above: Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
Image source: @tunduantiphalissu
