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Leading Kenyan lawyer and former Justice Minister in the country Martha Carua says she was detained in Tanzania after entering a court to appear for opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
Carua said in a social media publication that she had been detained at the main international airport and was waiting for deportation, along with two colleagues who had embarked on it. The Tanzanian authorities have not yet commented.
The Tanzan politician Lisu must appear in court on Monday after being Accused of betrayal last month.
Karua is a respected defender of human rights and a vowel critic of what she calls a “democratic retreat” in East Africa.
She is also the Ugandan opposition politician Kizi Bessigay, who was abducted in Kenya last year and returned to her homeland to face charges of state treason.
Like Lisu, he denies the allegations, claiming that they are politically motivated.
Karua was Minister of Justice of Kenya from 2005 to 2009 and was a running classmate of former Prime Minister Raila Odinia in her unsuccessful presidential offer in 2022 elections.
It launches its own opposition party, the People’s Liberation Party, earlier this year.
Carua’s spokesman told AFP News Agency that it had been questioned for three hours at the Tanzani Dar Es Salam’s capital, and her passport was confiscated.
Karua said he is now waiting for deportation with her colleague Kenyan lawyer Gloria Kimani and the human rights campaign Lin Ngugi.
The Human Rights Defenders Coalition in Tanzania condemned what he calls the “arbitrary arrest” of the three, and said she had instructed her lawyers to try to secure their release.
He added that he was shocked by the detention because Carua was allowed to observe the proceedings when Lisu appeared in court on April 15.
Human rights groups are increasingly worried about the repression of the opposition in Tanzania before the presidential and parliamentary elections that should appear in October.
Lisu, the leader of the main opposition party Chadma, cannot seek a guarantee, since he is accused of betrayal, a crime for which the maximum sentence is death.
He survived a murder attempt in 2017 after being shot 16 times.
The leader of the opposition was arrested in April after he held a rally under the slogan “No reforms, no elections.”
It requires extensive changes, saying that Tanzania’s current laws do not allow free and fair elections. The government denies the claim.
Following his arrest, Chadema’s party was forbidden to challenge the poll in October after refusing to comply with the requirement of the Election Commission to sign a code of conduct.
The document requires parties and their supporters to “behave well” and “maintain peace and harmony” during the election.
Chadema sees the Code of Conduct as a bet to control the opposition and to continue state repression.
The CCM Party, which has ruled Tanzania since 1977, is expected to maintain power after recent developments.
The President Suluhu Hasan himself is expected to be his presidential candidate.
She was widely praised for giving the Tanzanians more political freedom when she took office in 2021 after the death of the acting John Magufuli.
Her critics say Tanzania again sees the repression that characterizes Magufuli’s management. The government denies the claim.