charged with treason last month. <\/a><\/p>\nKarua is a respected human rights advocate, and a vocal critic of what she calls “democratic backsliding” in East Africa.<\/p>\n
She has also been representing Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye, who was kidnapped in Kenya last year and taken back to his home country to face treason charges.<\/p>\n
Like Lissu, he denies the charges, arguing that they are politically motivated.<\/p>\n
Karua served as Kenya’s justice minister from 2005 to 2009, and was the running-mate of former Prime Minister Raila Odigna in his failed presidential bid in elections in 2022.<\/p>\n
She launched her own opposition party, the People’s Liberation Party, earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Karua’s spokesperson told AFP news agency that she was questioned for three hours at the airport in Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam, and her passport was confiscated.<\/p>\n
Karua said she was now awaiting deportation along with fellow Kenyan lawyer Gloria Kimani, and human rights campaigner Lynn Ngugi.<\/p>\n
The Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition condemned what it called the “arbitrary arrest” of the three, and said it had instructed its lawyers to try and secure their release.<\/p>\n
It added that it was shocked by the detentions, as Karua had been allowed into Tanzania to observe proceedings when Lissu appeared in court on 15 April.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups have been increasingly concerned about a crackdown on the opposition in Tanzania ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due in October.<\/p>\n
Lissu, the leader of the main opposition Chadema party, cannot seek bail because he has been charged with treason, a crime for which the maximum sentence is death.<\/p>\n
He survived an assassination attempt in 2017 after being shot 16 times.<\/p>\n
The opposition leader was arrested in April after he held a rally under under the slogan “No Reforms, No Election”.<\/p>\n
He is demanding sweeping changes, saying Tanzania’s current laws do not allow for free and fair elections. The government denies the allegation.<\/p>\n
Since his arrest, his Chadema party has been barred from contesting the October poll after it refused to to comply with the electoral commission’s requirement to sign a code of conduct.<\/p>\n
The document requires parties and their supporters to “behave well”, and to “maintain peace and harmony” during the elections.<\/p>\n
Chadema sees the code of conduct as a ploy to contain the opposition, and for state repression to continue.<\/p>\n
The CCM party, which has governed Tanzania since 1977, is expected to retain power following the latest developments.<\/p>\n
President Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to be its presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
She was widely praised for giving Tanzanians greater political freedom when she took office in 2021 following the death of the incumbent, John Magufuli.<\/p>\n
Her critics say Tanzania is once again seeing the repression that characterised Magufuli’s rule. The government denies the allegation.<\/p>\n