Chadema Chairperson Tundu Lissu’s treason trial charges were mentioned today, 19th May 2025, at the senior principal magistrates’ court in Kisutu, Dar es Salam, Tanzania. The magistrate, Mr Godfrey Mhini, adjourned the case for 14 days to give police and investigators time to conclude their investigations.
Lissu’s case attracted global attention. Today’s courtroom saw several heads of missions and diplomatic corps in attendance.
But more peculiar was a large number of Kenyan delegations in Dar es Salaam. Despite several activists and lawyers’ frustrations of being detained at Julius Nyerere International Airport and eventually deported back to Nairobi, many others made it to Kisutu Court.
A case in point is former Kenya chief justice David Maraga, former chairperson of Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) George Kegoro, and Former Ndiwa MP Agostino Neto, who were all present at Kisutu court during Lissu’s trial.
The case, which is being described as politically motivated, saw the East Africa Law Society inviting legal representatives to the hearing, among them People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua.
Alongside Karua, activists, mostly from Kenya, were also expected to be present at the hearing.
They were, however, detained at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, and some were deported back to Kenya.
Karua said she, alongside Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Council member Gloria Kimani and member of the Pan-African Progressive Leaders Solidarity Network Lynn Ngugi, were detained at the airport on Sunday afternoon.
The PLP party termed the trio’s “disgraceful” deportation “a blatant violation of the principles of the East African Community.”
Later in the evening, Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and Kenyan activists Hanifa Adan and Hussein Khalid were also denied entry into Tanzania.
Meanwhile, armed men identifying as officers showed up at activist Boniface Mwangi’s hotel room in Dar es Salaam on Sunday night.
He also posted a video where he refused to open his hotel room door for the men, telling them he was afraid of being abducted.
The matter has raised questions on why Kenyan activists and top lawyers are being denied entry into Tanzania.
President Suluhu’s regime has been accused of increasingly moving to quash dissent, with police frequently breaking up rallies and arresting members of Lissu’s opposition Chadema party.
