Tanzania's High Court in Dar es Salaam on Friday found opposition leader Tundu Lissu guilty of incitement and acquitted him of treason, according to BBC reporting from the verdict¹.

Lissu, 58, chairs the main opposition party Chadema and has been in custody since April 2025 over remarks made while pressing for electoral changes before the October 2025 general election^1,2.

Treason is among the country's most serious offences and can carry the death penalty^1,2. BBC said a three-judge panel dropped that count and convicted him instead over statements prosecutors said were meant to disrupt the vote and threaten the government¹.

Lissu, a lawyer who represented himself, has denied any crime and called the case politically motivated, arguing his comments were a lawful campaign for constitutional and electoral reform^1,2. The government has repeatedly denied targeting opponents¹.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the October 2025 election with 98 percent of the vote after her two main challengers, including Lissu, were excluded, a result the opposition dismissed¹. Protests and a security response followed; an official inquiry put the death toll at at least 500, while the opposition and rights groups have said far more people were killed^1,2.

Africanews, writing before the ruling, said security was tightened in Dar es Salaam and that police warned against people they said wanted to stage a coup². British and EU lawmakers had described the prosecution as politically motivated and called for Lissu's release².

BBC said Lissu has leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal¹. Reuters published a report whose headline said the court cleared him of treason; the full text could not be read at filing time³. Sentencing on the incitement count had not been reported in the sources that could be read^1,2.