On November 6, Tundu Lissu, leader of Tanzania's main opposition Chadema party, was sentenced to four years in prison for incitement following heavy unrest during the October 2025 elections.
The same day, he was cleared of treason charges — which could have meant a death sentence if he had been found guilty.
Lissu commented that the judiciary had acted under pressure; he rejected the verdict due to the fact that incitement was not among the charges which had brought against him at the start of his trial in 2025.
Chadema officials have now signaled an intention to appeal the court decision. The government has not issued a statement on his conviction yet.
Few opposition figures have shaped modern Tanzanian politics as dramatically as Lissu. A lawyer by training and one of the country's most outspoken critics of the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Lissu has spent years challenging the political establishment.
Over the years, he has been subjected to repeated arrest and detention; in 2017, he survived an attempt on his life by unknown gunmen outside his residence in the capital Dodoma, sustaining multiple bullet wounds.
More recently, his trial in the run-up to the October 2025 general election continued to keep him and the opposition in the public eye following his arrest in April 2025 in the southwestern…
