Tanzania frees opposition leaders following deadly election protests

Despite the releases, opposition leader Tundu Lissu remains behind bars, while hundreds have been charged with treason and other crimes.

Police in Tanzania have released several senior opposition leaders detained following the deadly protests that followed last month’s disputed elections, according to the main opposition party, Chadema.

Four senior Chadema officials arrested last week for their alleged role in the protests were released on bail on Monday, the party said on social media.

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The unrest came when authorities cracked down on demonstrations against the re-election of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was declared the winner of the disputed election with nearly 98 percent of the vote.

Chadema vice chairman John Heche and deputy secretary-general Amani Golugwa were among those released.

Heche was arrested on October 22 and questioned on suspicion of terrorism, according to his lawyer. Golugwa had been arrested over the weekend.

Godbless Lema, a member of Chadema’s central committee, and Boniface Jacob, chairman of the party’s coastal region branch, were also freed.

There was no immediate announcement from the Tanzanian government regarding their release.

Alongside the detainment of the Chadema officials, prosecutors charged at least 145 people suspected of involvement in the countrywide protests with treason. More than 170 others have been charged with other protest-related offences.

‘A disgrace before God’

Chadema leader Tundu Lissu was charged with treason in April and remains behind bars.

His exclusion from the October 29 presidential ballot was a major trigger of the protests, which have plunged Tanzania into its biggest political crisis in decades.

Opposition forces and human rights activists have said security forces killed more than 1,000 people during the unrest.

The Catholic Church in Tanzania condemned the killings, saying the “country has lost its dignity”.

“Such acts … are a disgrace before God,” said Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi during a service at St Joseph’s Church in the capital, Dar-es-Salaam.

The government insists that the casualty numbers presented by the opposition are exaggerated, but it has not offered its own estimate.

Single-party rule has been the norm in Tanzania since the advent of multiparty politics in 1992. Hassan’s opponents have accused her government of suppressing dissent and widespread abductions of critics.

Observers from the African Union said the election was not in line with democratic standards. They documented incidents of ballot stuffing and other irregularities.

Hassan has defended the fairness of the election and rejected criticism of her human rights record.

Last year, she ordered an investigation into the reported abductions, but no findings have been unveiled.