Tanzania Charges Over 200 with Treason After Deadly Election Protests

More than 200 people in Tanzania have been charged with treason following violent protests that erupted after the country’s disputed October 29 general election, which the opposition has condemned as a “sham.”

According to lawyer Peter Kibatala and multiple judicial sources who spoke to AFP, the mass arraignment took place on Friday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial capital.

“All of these ladies and gentlemen, numbering more than 250 in total, were arraigned in three separate cases… and they’re all charged with two sets of offences,” Kibatala said.
“The first offence is a conspiracy to commit treason, and the second is treason itself.”

Court officials confirmed that at least 240 people were charged in connection with the post-election unrest.

The violence followed the announcement that President Samia Suluhu Hassan had won 98 percent of the vote, according to the national electoral commission. Opposition groups, including the Chadema Party, were barred from participating and rejected the results outright.

Protests broke out nationwide on election day, with reports suggesting hundreds—possibly thousands—of people were killed in clashes with security forces. A days-long internet blackout also made it difficult to verify casualty figures or share information.

Chadema officials claim that at least 800 people were killed, a figure corroborated by diplomatic and security sources, who told AFP that the true toll “could run into the thousands.”

Tanzanian authorities have not released any official casualty numbers and have instead blamed the opposition for inciting unrest.

Late Friday, the Tanzania Police Force announced it was seeking to arrest several opposition leaders, including Chadema secretary-general John Mnyika, his deputy Amani Golugwa, and party spokesperson Brenda Rupia.

“Following our investigations and evidence we gathered, we are looking for these 10 people to arrest them. We call on them to surrender to the police immediately,” police spokesperson David Misime said in a statement.

The treason charges mark one of the largest mass prosecutions in Tanzania’s recent history and come amid growing international concern about human rights abuses and suppression of political dissent in the East African nation.

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