In Tanzania, opposition leader Tundu Lissu threatens to start a hunger strike to protest his detention conditions

Tundu Lissu, a Tanzanian opposition leader detained since April 2025, plans to start a hunger strike on October 26 to protest against prison authorities denying private meetings with his lawyers. Lissu, facing treason charges that could lead to the death penalty, claims his constitutional rights have been violated. The Tanzanian High Court ruled in his favor, but the prison administration has not complied. Lissu, who survived an assassination attempt in 2017, returned to Tanzania in 2023 after a ban on opposition meetings was lifted. He was nominated for the Sakharov Prize for human rights but did not win. Recent elections in Tanzania were marred by violence, with reports of around 2,000 deaths.