Tanzanian police arrest foreign activists supporting detained opposition leader Tundu Lissu
Tanzanian police have arrested prominent human rights activists from Kenya and Uganda who had travelled to Dar es Salaam to observe a hearing in the treason case against detained opposition leader Tundu Lissu, an advocacy group said.
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan lawyer Agather Atuhaire went to Tanzania to attend Lissu's first court appearance on Monday in a case that has spotlighted a growing crackdown on opponents of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
The chief spokesperson for Tanzania's immigration services department, Paul Mselle, said he was not aware of Mwangi and Atuhaire's arrests, but would look into it.
Spokespeople for the government and police did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Mwangi and Atuhaire were being held at the central police station in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) said.
The coalition said Mwangi was arrested on allegations of providing false information to gain entry into the country. It was not clear on what basis Atuhaire had been detained.
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