Tanzania’s jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu has ended a brief hunger strike after prison authorities allowed him to meet privately with his lawyers, according to his legal team.
Lissu, who leads the opposition Party for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA), reportedly began refusing food after his lawyers were denied access to the prison where he is being held.
His lawyer, Rugemeleza Nshala, told The Associated Press that Lissu did not take tea, breakfast or lunch on Tuesday before ending the protest after lunchtime following a meeting with his brother.
However, accounts of when the hunger strike began differed. CHADEMA spokesperson Brenda Rupia said on X that Lissu began refusing food on Monday, while Nshala said it started on Tuesday morning after promised private consultations failed to take place.
Tanzania’s prisons service denied reports that Lissu was on hunger strike, telling the Swahili-language newspaper Mwananchi that he was safe.
Lissu was arrested in April 2025 after addressing a rally calling for electoral reforms. He was subsequently charged with treason over remarks prosecutors alleged were intended to encourage the public to rebel and disrupt the 2025 general election.
He has denied the charges, while his lawyers maintain that the case is politically motivated. The offence carries a possible death sentence under Tanzanian law.
His detention has drawn attention to Tanzania’s human rights record under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, alongside reports of alleged abductions of government critics. The government has rejected accusations of widespread abuses and says it is committed to respecting human rights.
Lissu survived an assassination attempt in 2017 in which he was shot 16 times.
A judgment in his treason case is scheduled for November 6, 2026.
