Tanzania’s most prominent opposition figure, Tundu Lissu, has been acquitted of treason but convicted of the lesser offence of incitement and sentenced to four years in prison, in a verdict delivered on Friday, 6 November 2026, by the High Court in Dar es Salaam. The ruling ends a trial that had threatened the Chadema leader with the death penalty, but it keeps him behind bars after more than 18 months in detention.
What the Court Decided
A three-judge panel presided over by Judge Dunstan Ndunguru found that the prosecution had failed to prove a key element of the treason charge, according to Tanzania’s The Citizen newspaper and the independent outlet The Chanzo. Treason is punishable by death under Tanzanian law, the Associated Press noted.
The court said prosecutors had needed to show that Lissu intended to intimidate the government, as distinct from applying political pressure for electoral reform, and that the way witnesses interpreted his remarks was not enough to establish this, The Chanzo reported. The judges also said his appearance on an online TV channel did not prove he had uploaded the footage in question.
However, the panel substituted a conviction for incitement, which it treated as a related lesser offence that fell within the case Lissu had been called to answer. According to the AP, he was found guilty of inciting people to disrupt the 2025 general election. The judge then handed down a four-year custodial sentence and told Lissu he had the right to appeal.
Lissu Rejects the Verdict
Lissu, who represented himself for much of the trial, reacted sharply. According to the AP, he accused the judges of finding “an offense that did not exist” on the basis of political directives. The Chanzo reported that he described the case as an arena for political warfare and insisted he was completely innocent.
Before sentencing, Lissu argued that he was a first offender and that a fine should be considered first. He also asked the court to take into account the roughly 577 days he has already spent in custody, and requested bail so he could pursue an appeal from outside prison, The Chanzo said. The court opted for imprisonment, and reports did not make clear how, or whether, the time already served would be counted. The AP said he was taken back to prison after the hearing.
Prosecutors, led by State Attorney Nassoro Katuga, had asked for a severe sentence to deter others, according to The Chanzo. Lissu also asked to be allowed to attend the burial of his brother, Alute Mughwai Lissu, who died on 1 November and is due to be buried on 10 November in Singida region.
How the Case Began
Lissu was arrested on 9 April 2025 after addressing a rally calling for electoral reform and was charged with treason the following day, the AP reported. The prosecution centred on remarks he made in early April 2025 in Dar es Salaam during Chadema’s “No Reforms, No Election” campaign, which demanded changes to how elections are run before the party would take part.
The case played out against a tense political backdrop. Candidates from Tanzania’s two main opposition parties were barred from the October 2025 presidential election, in which President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner. The vote was followed by protests and a deadly crackdown. A government-appointed inquiry has put the death toll at no fewer than 518, while Chadema estimates around 2,000 people were killed, a figure the United Nations has said it could not independently verify, according to the AP.
Lissu is no stranger to danger. In 2017 he survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot multiple times, and he spent years in exile in Belgium before returning to Tanzania in 2023. He ran for president in 2020 and became Chadema chairman in January 2025.
Why It Matters for Africa
The trial has been closely watched across the continent and beyond as a test of political freedoms in Tanzania, once seen as one of East Africa’s more stable democracies. The acquittal on the capital charge removes the threat of execution, but the incitement conviction means one of the country’s best-known opposition voices remains in prison, and Chadema continues to operate without its leader at a time of deep political division.
For many observers in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, the case echoes wider concerns about the use of criminal charges against opposition politicians ahead of and after elections.
What Happens Next
Lissu has the right to challenge the conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal, and his request for bail pending appeal signals he intends to do so, though no appeal had been formally filed at the time of writing. A key question will be whether the time he has already spent in detention is credited against the four-year term. Reactions from the government, Chadema and international rights groups are expected in the coming days.
Sources: Associated Press, The Chanzo, The Citizen (Tanzania), Bloomberg.
