Several Kenyan rights activists including a former justice minister said they were denied entry to Tanzania over the weekend as they travelled to attend the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack and came second in the last presidential poll, was charged with treason last month over what prosecutors said was a speech calling upon the public to rebel and disrupt elections due in October.
A recent string of high-profile arrests has thrust the rights record of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who plans to seek reelection, into the spotlight. Hassan says the government is committed to respecting human rights.
Lissus CHADEMA party has demanded significant changes to the electoral process they say favours the ruling party before they participate in the ballot.
Lissu appeared in court for the first time since his arrest on Monday morning, with his fist raised in the air as supporters chanted No Reforms, No Election, according to a video of the courtroom shared by CHADEMA on X.
