Leading Kenyan attorney and former Justice Minister Martha Karua claims she was deported on May 18 from Tanzania to prevent her from attending opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s court hearing. After flying in from neighboring Kenya, two of her coworkers were also reportedly arrested and deported. Authorities in Tanzania have not yet responded.
Lissu, the head of Tanzania’s main opposition Chadema party, has been accused of treason and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, May 19. Karua is a well-known human rights activist who speaks out against what she describes as “democratic backsliding” in East Africa.
Additionally, she has been defending Kizza Besigye, an opposition politician from Uganda who was abducted in Kenya last year and returned home to face treason charges. Like Lissu, the Angolan politician disputes the accusations, claiming they are driven by politics.
Earlier this year, she founded the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), her own opposition party. According to the PLP, she was deported after enduring “hours of unwarranted interrogation” alongside human rights activist Lynn Ngugi and fellow Kenyan attorney Gloria Kimani.
Since Karua had been permitted to enter Tanzania to watch proceedings when Lissu appeared in court on April 15, the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition expressed shock at what it described as the “arbitrary arrests.” A crackdown on Tanzania’s opposition ahead of the October presidential and parliamentary elections has raised concerns among human rights organizations.
In 2017, Lissu was shot sixteen times and survived an assassination attempt. After holding a rally with the slogan “No Reforms, No Election” in April, the opposition leader was taken into custody. After the most recent events, the CCM party, which has controlled Tanzania since 1977, is anticipated to stay in power, with President Samia Suluhu Hassan probably running for president.