Tanzania's High Court jails Lissu four years for incitement after treason acquittal

The verdict

People Daily reported that Justice Dunstan Ndunguru presided over the three-judge panel, sitting with Justices James Karayemaha and Ferdinand Kiwonde. Security was heightened across Dar es Salaam and around the courthouse as supporters gathered, Al Jazeera reported. The presiding judge said the statements at issue showed an intent to disrupt the vote. "We are satisfied that through his statements, the accused intended to disrupt elections and instigate violence," the judge said.

Al Jazeera reported that Lissu rejected the ruling. "Excuses were created to imprison me," he told the court.

"I was not charged with incitement but you judges are convicting me with it just to impress the person who gives you the titles," he said. The judge told him the doors were open for appeal, Al Jazeera reported.

Why the four years matter

Lissu has spent 19 months in jail since his arrest in April 2025, DW reported. Oman Observer reported that the four-year term could mean he remains in prison until just after Tanzania's next scheduled presidential election, in October 2030, though it did not say whether time served would be credited. Chadema's head of foreign affairs, John Kitoka called the verdict "a travesty of justice" and said the main purpose was to keep Lissu in prison during the next election, Oman Observer reported.

A charge the court added

People Daily reported that the conviction rests on a lesser offence the judges applied themselves. The court found Lissu guilty of incitement under Section 390 of the Penal Code and applied Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Act. The same judgment held that prosecutors had not proved treason and had failed to establish that he intended to intimidate the government. He received four years.

Tito Magoti, a Tanzanian human rights lawyer based in Oxford, told Al Jazeera the collapse of the treason charge was "a major blow" for the state. "It shows that there wasn't any intention to charge him with treason, but rather to put him behind bars," he said.

The case behind the case

DW reported that the charge grew out of a speech Lissu gave in April 2025. Prosecutors said he told supporters the opposition would "block the election" and "mobilize rebellion." People Daily reported he was arrested on 9 April 2025, after campaigning under the slogan "No reforms, no elections." He pleaded not guilty and argued that his speech broke no law. DW reported that his detention, the party's exclusion and allegations of abductions of critics helped drive the protests.

PBS reported that Chadema was barred from contesting the October 2025 election after demanding basic electoral reforms. Hassan was declared the winner with 98% of the vote. The protests that followed met a security crackdown. A commission Hassan appointed reported in April 2026 that at least 518 people died of unnatural causes, the BBC reported. The BBC also reported that 197 of them were shot.

Opposition figures and rights groups put the toll in the thousands. DW reported that the government denied allegations that security forces used excessive force.

International reaction

British and EU lawmakers described the case as politically motivated and called for Lissu's immediate release, DW reported.