Tundu Lissu, leader of the opposition Chadema party, was acquitted of treason charges but found guilty of incitement by a Tanzanian court. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
But the panel ruled that Mr Lissu’s party’s ‘No Reforms, No Election’ campaign was sufficient for him to be convicted of incitement.
State prosecutors failed to prove treason charges against Mr Lissu, a panel of three judges at a high court in Dar es Salaam ruled on Friday, acquitting the opposition figure.
“By uttering those words with the intention of disseminating them to the public, the accused incited the public to disrupt the 2025 elections,” the court ruled.
Mr Lissu, however, dismissed the incitement conviction as politically motivated and a charge manufactured by the judges.
“The offence of incitement is one that you, honourable judges, have manufactured. You have created an offence that did not exist, and you have done so on political directives,” Mr Lissu said during his trial.
Mr Lissu was barred from Tanzania’s presidential election of October 29, 2025, won by incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who polled 98 per cent of the vote.
About 700 people were killed during the election.
The United Nations, African Union Election Observation Mission, the European Union, the Southern African Development Committee Electoral Observation, the UK, Canadian and Norwegian missions in Tanzania respectively condemned the fatalities, internet shutdown, disqualification of opposition candidates and brutal clampdown on protesters during the election.