Tanzania's opposition Chadema party has arrested several figures, including party chairman Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu, after calling for a demonstration on Monday, an official said.
John Mrema told AFP that police arrested Chadema party leader Freeman Mbowe and John Bambalo, a member of the youth movement, “on their arrival at Songwe airport” in the southwest of the country, and that he did not know the reasons for their arrests.
He added that earlier on Monday, the police had arrested about 500 young men as they were heading to organize the march, before releasing them.
Police announced on Sunday a ban on the gathering, citing the risk of violent clashes.
Before his arrest, Chadema party leader Freeman Mbowe had “strongly” condemned the arrests. On the X platform, he demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of all our leaders, members and supporters who have been arrested across the country.”
For its part, Amnesty International condemned the “mass arrest campaigns” and “arbitrary detentions.” The non-governmental organization said in a statement, “The authorities must urgently release all detainees or charge them with criminal charges provided for by law.”
“It's worrying”
“It is worrying because it is very similar to the mass arrests of dissidents that took place when John Magufuli was president,” Oryem Nyako, a Tanzania researcher at Human Rights Watch, told AFP. “Tanzania should not return to that era, especially as elections approach.”
Opposition figure Tundu Lissu returned to Tanzania in January 2023, after more than five years in exile.
The decision was taken days after President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the lifting of the ban on opposition political meetings.
After the sudden death of President John Magufuli in March 2021, his successor, Samia Suluhu Hassan, reversed many of her predecessor’s most controversial policies and promised reforms that the opposition had been eagerly awaiting.
But the optimism generated by these decisions quickly waned after Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe and three party officials were arrested in Mwanza (west) in July 2021, hours before they were to hold a forum to demand constitutional reforms in the East African country.
After seven months of trial on charges of “terrorism,” the Supreme Court ordered their release in March 2022 after the prosecution dropped the charges against them.
Presidential elections in Tanzania are scheduled to be held by the end of 2025.