Months after delaying the trial of Tanzania’s opposition leader Tundu Lissu, the process deciding the future of CHADEMA, the country’s political landscape and Lissu’s very life has finally kicked off.
However, after reported foreign journalists in support of Lissu have faced severe human rights violations, new criticism has arisen in relation to the most recent events.
On Monday 18th August 2025, the Kisutu Residence Magistrate court in Dar Es Salaam prohibited the live broadcasting of the trial, excluding the public from the court case.
Additionally, the witnesses are allowed to use pseudonyms and thus will not be obligated to state their real names in the documented report of the trial.
According to presiding magistrate Franco Kiswaga, those decisions pursue the sole purpose of protecting civilian prosecution witnesses throughout the court case.
However, Lissu himself as well as human rights defenders have doubts whether this is actually the case and incline more towards a veiled political agenda of paving Suluhu Hassan the way for a new presidential tenure.
Past interventions of Tanzanian government
After Lissu’s arrest on 9th April 2025, Tanzania became increasingly monitored by international human rights organizations as well as regional civil society and academic institutions.
One month later, former Kenyan minister of justice Martha Karua planned to visit the court hearing scheduled for 19th May 2025 to support the trialed leader of CHADEMA.
Having arrived at the airport of Dar Es Salaam, she was denied access to the country and afterwards deported back to Kenya with the Tanzanian government arguing that she was not authorized to practice law on Tanzanian soil and thus not was not allowed to attend Tundu Lissu’s court hearing.
Apparently, the same has happened to former Kenyan chief justice Willy Mutunga and other prominent rights activists, which, however, was never officially confirmed by the Tanzanian government.
Furthermore, on 2nd June 2025 a public press conference has unveiled yet another incident connected to Tundu Lissu’s trial involving Ugandan lawyer Agathe Atuhaire and Kenyan human rights activist Boniface Mwangi.
Both have traveled to Tanzania with the same goal as Martha Karua and were therefore apprehended by the local law enforcement units after which they faced arbitrary detention, torture and even rape.
International reactions on democratic instability
Already before these incidents, several international actors have voiced their concern about the deteriorating situation on democratic practices in Tanzania.
Two days after Lissu was detained, Amnesty international has released a statement in which they called this action an “arbitrary arrest” demanding an immediate release of the presidential election candidate.
Furthermore, several law associations, the International Commission of Jurists as well as the University of Pretoria have released a joint statement condemning violent crackdown, malicious arrest, and treason charges against CHADEMA’s leading figure.
Even the United States publicly sent their condolences to human rights activists Atuhaire and Mwangi demanding an immediate and full investigation into the allegations of human rights abuses.
Consequences of trial in “darkness”
Obviously, Tundu Lissu himself commented on the court decision with outrage.
"Justice must be done and be seen to be done” he said, implicating that the outcome of the court case would most likely not be in accordance with fairness and justice principles.
But what are concrete consequences of the exclusion of the public in this case?
Firstly, with a written report being the only official result of the court case, the court can easily alter certain facts and statements on paper to their advantage.
Secondly, since the witnesses will not have to use their real names, it will be difficult to fact check the correctness of the statements again leaving room for speculative claims to Lissu’s disadvantage.
Considering the current course of the Tanzanian government stating Tundu Lissu as a danger to public order and being a menace to society combined with the proven use of extrajudicial measures to silence political opposition, it is very likely that this trial might conclude in congruence with Suluhu Hassan’s political goal.
In that case, Lissu would be either imprisoned or in the worst case be trialed with the death penalty.
Although the past events serve as evidence for a rather pessimistic forecast of Lissu’s court case, the results of this trial in “darkness”, as Tundu Lissu put it, will give more clarity in this matter.
