Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu ends brief hunger strike, treason verdict due November 6

Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu has ended a brief hunger strike. His lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Lissu ended the strike after lunchtime, after prison authorities allowed him to meet privately with his lawyers. He had refused food after his lawyers were denied entry to the prison where he is being held.

Lissu leads the opposition Party for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA) and came second in the 2020 presidential election. Party spokesperson Brenda Rupia wrote on X that Lissu began refusing food on Monday after his lawyers were denied entry to the prison. Nshala, however, said the strike began on Tuesday morning, after promised private consultations failed to take place. He said Lissu did not take his tea, breakfast or lunch.

Tanzania's prisons service gave a different account, telling the Swahili-language daily Mwananchi that Lissu was safe and was not on hunger strike.

Nshala had raised concerns about Lissu's health, saying he relies on medication. In 2017 Lissu survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot 16 times.

Lissu faces a treason charge that carries a possible death sentence. He was arrested in April 2025 after addressing a rally calling for electoral reforms, and was charged over what prosecutors said was a speech urging the public to rebel and disrupt last year's general election.

He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers say the charges are politically motivated. A judgement in the case is due on November 6.

His detention, along with the alleged abductions of government critics, has led to scrutiny of the human rights record of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who won a 2025 election. The government has rejected accusations of widespread abuses and said it is committed to respecting human rights. It ordered an investigation into reports of abductions in 2024, though no official findings have been made public.

On Tuesday CHADEMA announced seven days of mourning, from Thursday to November 4, to mark the anniversary of the October 29 election. A government-appointed inquiry found that at least 518 people were killed in the violence that followed that vote. CHADEMA puts the death toll at about 2,000, a figure the United Nations said it could not verify.