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Statements

IPU Human Rights Committee urges Tanzanian authorities to ensure safety of returning opposition leader Tundu Lissu

Tundu Lissu

Mr. Tundu Lissu, a former member of the Tanzanian Parliament and a vocal opposition leader, is due to return home on 27 July.

Mr. Lissu survived an assassination attempt in 2017 and has since been abroad for medical treatment after being shot 16 times.

Mr. Lissu was stripped of his parliamentary mandate in June 2019. Previously, he had been arrested and charged multiple times for sedition and related offences in connection with public statements he made that were critical of the Government.

After declaring his intention to return to Tanzania earlier this year, death threats have started to appear on social media and in the press.

The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians has been monitoring closely Mr. Lissu’s situation. The IPU Committee recently expressed its deep concern about the attempt on his life, the allegation that the assassination attempt was carried out with the support of the authorities, the revocation of his parliamentary mandate and legal charges brought against him. (Read the decision of the Committee.)

The IPU Committee urges the authorities to ensure that Mr. Lissu receives the necessary protection and that he is allowed to exercise his rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The IPU Committee also calls on the authorities to investigate the 2017 assassination attempt to identify and hold to account those responsible.