Tanzanian government on Tuesday arrested and later deported two human rights activists from Kenya and Uganda for supporting detained opposition leader.
The deported activists had travelled to Dar es Salaam to observe a hearing in the treason case against detained opposition leader Tundu Lissu, advocacy groups said.
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan lawyer Agather Atuhaire went to Dar es Salaam to attend Lissu’s first court appearance on Monday in a case that has highlighted what government critics say is a growing crackdown on opponents of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
The head of Tanzania’s Law Society said on Tuesday that Mwangi and Atuhaire had been deported.
“Both individuals have been repatriated under the escort and supervision of officers from the Tanzania Immigration Services Department,” Tanzania Law Society President Boniface Mwabukusi said in a statement on his X account.
The chief spokesperson for Tanzania’s Immigration Services Department, Paul Mselle, said he was not aware of Mwangi and Atuhaire’s arrests, but would look into it.
Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack and came second in Tanzania’s last presidential poll, was charged with treason in April over what prosecutors said was a speech calling on the public to rebel and disrupt elections due in October.
At Monday’s hearing, Lissu urged his supporters to have no fear. His lawyer later told reporters that the hearing had been adjourned until June 2.
