Tanzania releases senior opposition leaders on bail after election protests

Police in Tanzania released four senior opposition leaders who were arrested for their alleged role in deadly protests against last month's general election, their party said late on Monday.

The protests plunged Tanzania into its biggest political crisis in decades. Opposition party CHADEMA and some human rights activists said more than 1,000 people were killed by security forces.

The government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was declared the winner of the election with nearly 98% of the vote, said those numbers were exaggerated but did not offer its own death toll.

Among those released on bail was CHADEMA Vice Chairman John Heche, who was arrested on October 22 and questioned on suspicion of terrorism, according to his lawyer, and Amani Golugwa, the party's deputy secretary-general, who was arrested over the weekend, the party said on X late on Monday.

‘Treason charges’

Other freed individuals include the party’s deputy secretary-general (Mainland), Amani Golugwa; the chairperson for the Coastal Zone, Boniface Jacob; and Central Committee member Godbless Lema. 

CHADEMA leader Tundu Lissu, who remains in detention, was charged with treason in April. His exclusion from the presidential ballot was one major trigger of the protests.

On Friday, prosecutors charged at least 145 people with treason over their alleged involvement in the protests. More than 170 more were charged with other protest-related offences.

Hassan's opponents have accused her government of suppressing dissent and carrying out widespread abductions of critics. In addition, observers from the African Union called for urgent electoral reforms in line with democratic standards.

Hassan has rejected criticism of her human rights record and defended the fairness of the election. Last year, she ordered an investigation into the reported abductions, but no findings have been unveiled.