Tanzanian politician's lawyers ask UN to declare his detention arbitrary
Tanzanian opposition leader and former presidential candidate of CHADEMA party Tundu Lissu waves to his supporters as he arrives at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate Court in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Emmanuel Herman/File Photo
NAIROBI (Reuters) -Lawyers for Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu filed a complaint on Friday to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in a bid to ramp up international pressure for his release.
Lissu, chairman of Tanzania's main opposition party and runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested last month and charged with treason, a capital offence, over comments he is alleged to have made calling on supporters to prevent national elections in October from going ahead.
Tanzania's government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While President Samia Suluhu Hassan has won plaudits for easing political repression, she has faced questions about unexplained abductions of government critics in recent months.
Hassan, who will stand for re-election in October, has said her government respects human rights and ordered an investigation into the reported abductions.
Lissu's international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said the confidential complaint to the U.N. working group, which issues opinions but has no enforcement power, was part of a wider pressure campaign.
The European Parliament this month adopted a resolution denouncing Lissu's arrest as politically motivated, and Amsterdam said he would petition the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions.
"Right down to prosecutors, judges, police - all the people that are involved in this false show trial had better be aware that they should protect their U.S. assets," Amsterdam told Reuters.
In response to the European Parliament resolution, Tanzania's foreign ministry said outside criticisms about the case were based on "incomplete or partisan information".
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack for which no one has ever been charged, will appear in court on Monday.
Before he appeared in court last week, authorities detained a Kenyan and a Ugandan rights activist who had come to attend the hearing.
They were abandoned several days later near the borders of their home countries, and the Kenyan activist, Boniface Mwangi, said both were badly tortured while in custody.
Tanzanian officials have not responded to requests for comment about the allegation. Hassan has warned outsiders against "invading and interfering in our affairs".
(Reporting by Aaron Ross; editing by Giles Elgood)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Editorial: Trump's deal-making diplomacy not breaking deadlocks
An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike on Saturday. — Reuters US President Donald Trump's diplomacy of mediation through a deal between the major powers has once again ended in failure. Isn't it time for him to change his approach to Russia, which continues its aggression against Ukraine? Trump held telephone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was the third such talk since the launch of Trump's second administration. During the meeting, Trump asked Putin, 'When are we going to end this [the war]?' But Putin did not answer and also refused to accept the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposal backed by Trump. Prior to these telephone talks, Russia and Ukraine held direct talks between senior officials in Turkey for the first time in nearly three years, but no progress was made. Trump may have been trying to make a breakthrough in his top-level talks with Putin. However, after the meeting, Putin revealed that he would propose the drafting of a memorandum on a future peace treaty. This may be an attempt to prolong the negotiations by adding new procedures and to create an even more advantageous situation in the war. Putin also repeated his assertion that it is important to 'eliminate the root causes of this crisis'. This refers to demands that Ukraine cannot accept, such as ruling out Ukraine's future membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). It is Putin's tactic to take advantage of his counterpart's conciliatory stance and increase his demands. Trump should understand that continued concessions to Putin will not lead to progress. Trump must return to the basics that Russia's aggression against Ukraine is a clear violation of international law and unacceptable, and then proceed with negotiations. To counter Russia, it is essential to increase international pressure in close cooperation with European countries. It is appropriate that after the talks, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of France, Germany, and other major European countries to share information. European countries have warned that they will impose additional sanctions if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire. In the US Senate, deliberations are also underway on a Bill for additional sanctions that would impose high tariffs on countries that import energy from Russia. There is a need to increase the options available to put pressure on Russia. With the lack of diplomatic achievements, there are indications that Trump will decrease his engagement in the role of mediator in future. This is because after talks with Putin, Trump posted on social media that 'Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations' as if leaving the negotiations up to those parties. However, it should not be forgotten that the United States is providing Ukraine with weapons and military intelligence, which is the greatest source of pressure on Russia. If the United States pulls back, Washington will inevitably be accused of giving in to Putin. – The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Return to The Rock
US President Donald Trump wants to convert Alcatraz back into a federal prison, decades after the California island fortress was converted into a tourist destination because it had become too costly to house America's worst criminals. The prison off the coast of San Francisco – nicknamed 'The Rock' – is where the government sent notorious gangsters like Al Capone and George 'Machine Gun' Kelly as well as lesser-known men who were considered too dangerous to lock up elsewhere. Circled by herons and gulls and often shrouded in fog, Alcatraz has been the setting for movies featuring Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Clint Eastwood. Trump says Alcatraz, now part of the National Park Service, is needed to house America's 'most ruthless and violent' criminals. 'When we were a more serious nation, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That's the way it's supposed to be,' Trump said on his Truth Social site. California Democratic state senator Scott Wiener criticised Trump, saying he wants to create a 'domestic gulag right in the middle of San Francisco Bay'. Alcatraz is in the bay and visible from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. It is known for its years as a prison, from 1934-63, but its history is much longer. Tourists visiting Alcatraz Prison, a National Parks site located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California.— Reuters/AP President Millard Fillmore in 1850 declared the island for public purposes, according to the park service, and it soon became a military site. Confederates were housed there during the Civil War. By the 1930s, the government decided that it needed a place to hold the worst criminals, and Alcatraz became the choice. 'A remote site was sought, one that would prohibit constant communication with the outside world by those confined within its walls,' the park service said. 'Although land in Alaska was being considered, the availability of Alcatraz Island coincided with the government's perceived need for a high security prison.' The remoteness eventually made it impractical. Everything from food to fuel had to arrive by boat. 'The island had no source of fresh water,' according to the US Bureau of Prisons, 'so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week'. The cost to house someone there in 1959 was US$10.10 a day compared with US$3 at a federal prison in Atlanta. It was cheaper to build a new prison from scratch. Despite the location, many prisoners tried to get out: 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes into the bay, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or didn't survive the cold water and swift current. Escape from Alcatraz, a 1979 movie starring Clint Eastwood, told the story of John Anglin, his brother Clarence and Frank Morris, who all escaped in 1962, leaving behind handmade plaster heads with real hair in their beds to fool guards. The warden's house at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco. — Reuters/AP 'For the 17 years we worked on the case, no credible evidence emerged to suggest the men were still alive, either in the US or overseas,' the FBI said. Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and was opened to the public in 1973, a decade after it was closed as a prison. The park service says the island gets more than a million visitors a year who arrive by ferry. A ticket for an adult costs US$47.95, and visitors can see the cells where prisoners were held. Rob Frank, 55, of Springfield, Missouri, said he toured Alcatraz about a decade ago. He said it's hard to imagine the millions of dollars that would be needed to reopen the prison. 'It didn't seem very humane to me,' Frank said. 'They had the cells stacked on top of each other. Small cells. Everything's concrete. It was kind of a dark place.' In 1969, a group of Native Americans, mostly college students, claimed to have a historical right to Alcatraz and began an occupation that lasted for 19 months until federal authorities intervened in 1971. '(Their) underlying goals ... on Alcatraz were to awaken the American public to the reality of the plight of the First Americans and to assert the need for (Native) self-determination,' late historian Troy Johnson wrote. — AP
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Several Paris Jewish institutions sprayed with green paint
A general view of the Grande Synagogue des Tournelles, after it was covered in green paint, in Paris, France, May 31, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor PARIS (Reuters) -Five Jewish institutions were sprayed with green paint in Paris overnight and an investigation has been opened, a police source said on Saturday. Police found the paint damage early on Saturday on the Shoah Memorial, which is the Holocaust museum in Paris, three synagogues and a restaurant in the historic Jewish neighbourhood of Le Marais, the source said. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X that he was disgusted by these "despicable acts targetting the Jewish community". It was not yet known who committed the damage, or why. The Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on details of the incidents. France has seen a rise in hate crimes: last year police recorded an 11% rise in racist, xenophobic or antireligious crimes, according to official data published in March. The figures did not break down the attacks on different religions. (Reporting by Juliette JabkhiroEditing by Frances Kerry)
