Madar (Dar es Salaam) - Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu has ended a brief hunger strike after prison authorities allowed him to meet privately with his lawyers, his lawyer said, Al Jazeera English reported on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, citing AP and Reuters.
Lissu leads the Party for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA) and came second in the 2020 presidential election. Party spokesperson Brenda Rupia wrote on X that he began refusing food on Monday after his lawyers were denied entry to the prison.
His lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala, however, told AP the strike began on Tuesday morning after promised private consultations failed to take place. "Lissu did not take his tea, breakfast or lunch," he said, adding that Lissu ended the strike after lunchtime. Tanzania's prisons service denied the reports, telling the Swahili-language daily Mwananchi that Lissu was safe and was not on hunger strike.
Lissu was arrested in April 2025 after addressing a rally calling for electoral reforms, and was charged with treason, which carries a possible death sentence, over what prosecutors said was a speech urging the public to rebel and disrupt the general election. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers say the charges are politically motivated. A judgement is due on November 6.
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 the vote; CHADEMA puts the toll at about 2,000, a figure the United Nations said it could not verify.
The government rejects accusations of widespread abuses and says it is committed to respecting human rights.
