Tanzania charges dozens with treason over election protests

Prosecutors in Tanzania have charged dozens of people with treason over a wave of deadly protests sparked by a disputed election.

At least 76 people were accused of intending to obstruct the October 29 election, The Associated Press news agency reported on Friday, citing the charge sheet.

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The Reuters news agency reported that at least 145 people were charged with treason for alleged involvement in the protests, citing court documents.

In addition to treason, the suspects also face criminal conspiracy charges, The AP reported.

Specific charges were only outlined against one person, a businesswoman who prosecutors allege encouraged protesters to buy tear-gas masks from her business during the demonstrations.

Human rights activists and the main opposition party Chadema said security forces killed more than 1,000 people during the protests. The government rejects the figure, but has not offered its own death toll.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was sworn in on Monday, won with almost 98 percent of the vote, in an election that the African Union (AU) said failed to adhere to democratic standards.

The AU’s monitoring arm cited ballot stuffing, the government-imposed internet blackout, allegations of excessive military force and politically motivated abductions as actions “compromising election integrity”.

The two leading opposition candidates were controversially barred from competing in the vote, with the Chadema leader Tundu Lissu still in prison on treason charges that were brought in April.

Religious leaders were among those who urged the government to try to reconcile with political opponents and protesters in the wake of the unrest.

Benson Bagonza, a bishop in the country’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, said the charges would likely make tensions worse.

“The only option for the government to keep at least the relative peace now is … to grieve with the people instead of arresting and taking people to court,” he said.

On Friday, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and six other NGOs issued a joint statement condemning the “excessive use of force against unarmed demonstrators, including reprisal killings of civilians, some in their own homes”.

“Families have been left traumatised, and children have witnessed violence against their parents,” it said, adding that hundreds had been detained and that the “extent of human rights abuses is yet to be fully uncovered”.

Chadema party secretary Amos Ntobi believes hundreds were killed in his northern Mwanza region alone.

“We saw people being shot in broad daylight. There were bodies all over the streets — some people were killed instantly, others left badly wounded,” he told the AFP news agency.

Hassan became president in 2021 after her predecessor, John Magufuli, unexpectedly died.

Since then, watchdogs have expressed increasing alarm at her administration’s actions, which are alleged to include the forced disappearance and torture of critics.