A court in Tanzania charged opposition party leader Tundu Lissu with treason on Thursday for comments he made last week calling on the public to obstruct elections due later this year.

Lissu, the chairman of the main opposition party Chadema and runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested on Wednesday after a rally in the southwestern region of Ruvuma.

At a court appearance in the commercial Dar es Salaam, Lissu was not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge. He pleaded not guilty to a separate charge of publishing false information.

The charge will bring fresh scrutiny to President Samia Suluhu Hassan's human rights record as she bids for re-election.

‘No election’ campaign

Hassan won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship of the media that proliferated under her predecessor, John Magufuli, who died in office.

But she has faced mounting criticism from human rights activists over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents.

Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights and she ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year.

Lissu has been holding rallies across the country as part of his party's "No reforms, no election" campaign.