Tanzania arrests top opposition figure Tundu Lissu after rally: party

High-profile Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu was arrested by police on Wednesday, his party said, after attending a rally in the country's south.

The opposition Chadema party said on X that Lissu, its chairman, "has been arrested along with other members" and taken into custody after a rally in Mbinga, a town in the southern Ruvuma Region.

The party said in a short statement that it was monitoring the situation but that it was unclear what station they had been taken to. It added that police were "dispersing citizens at the venue using tear gas".

In a separate post on X, the party called on police to "release our leaders immediately and without any conditions".

Lissu was elected chair of his party in January, defeating its longtime leader Freeman Mbowe.

In November he was detained ahead of local elections, which were overwhelmingly won by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).

Chadema said the elections had been manipulated, with Mbowe saying that "the results were not credible at all".

The party has said it will petition the High Court to demand reforms ahead of a national election this year.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who ascended from the vice presidency in 2021, was initially feted for easing restrictions that previous leader John Magufuli had imposed on the opposition and the media in the country of around 67 million people.

But rights groups and Western governments have criticised what they see as renewed repression, with the arrests of Chadema politicians as well as abductions and murders of opposition figures.