Tanzanian politician's lawyers ask UN to declare his detention arbitrary
NAIROBI (Reuters) -Lawyers for Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu filed a complaint on Friday to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in a bid to ramp up international pressure for his release.
Lissu, chairman of Tanzania's main opposition party and runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested last month and charged with treason, a capital offence, over comments he is alleged to have made calling on supporters to prevent national elections in October from going ahead.
Tanzania's government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While President Samia Suluhu Hassan has won plaudits for easing political repression, she has faced questions about unexplained abductions of government critics in recent months.
Hassan, who will stand for re-election in October, has said her government respects human rights and ordered an investigation into the reported abductions.
Lissu's international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said the confidential complaint to the U.N. working group, which issues opinions but has no enforcement power, was part of a wider pressure campaign.
The European Parliament this month adopted a resolution denouncing Lissu's arrest as politically motivated, and Amsterdam said he would petition the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions.
"Right down to prosecutors, judges, police - all the people that are involved in this false show trial had better be aware that they should protect their U.S. assets," Amsterdam told Reuters.
In response to the European Parliament resolution, Tanzania's foreign ministry said outside criticisms about the case were based on "incomplete or partisan information".
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack for which no one has ever been charged, will appear in court on Monday.
Before he appeared in court last week, authorities detained a Kenyan and a Ugandan rights activist who had come to attend the hearing.
They were abandoned several days later near the borders of their home countries, and the Kenyan activist, Boniface Mwangi, said both were badly tortured while in custody.
Tanzanian officials have not responded to requests for comment about the allegation. Hassan has warned outsiders against "invading and interfering in our affairs".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
27 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Brazil's Supreme Court orders house arrest for former President Bolsonaro, a Trump ally
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election — a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court, said in his decision that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by spreading content through his three lawmaker sons. Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement that he will appeal the decision. They said his words 'good afternoon, Copacabana, good afternoon my Brazil, a hug to everyone, this is for our freedom" — broadcast from a cell phone of one of his sons during a Sunday protest in Rio de Janeiro — cannot 'be regarded as ignoring precautionary measures or as a criminal act.' The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after U.S. President Donald Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally's judicial situation. Trump has called the proceedings a ' witch hunt,' triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Hours after the decision, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on X that the Trump administration 'condemns (de) Moraes' order imposing house arrest on Bolsonaro and will hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct.' 'Putting even more restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro's ability to defend himself in public is not a public service. Let Bolsonaro speak!' the U.S. State Department body said. The case against Bolsonaro Brazil's prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organization that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right leader narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2022. Monday's order followed one from the top court last month that ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings are underway. Following news of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil's federal police told The Associated Press that federal agents had seized cell phones at Bolsonaro's residence in the capital of Brasilia, as ordered by de Moraes in his decision. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorization to speak about the matter publicly. Bolsonaro is expected to remain in Brasilia for his house arrest as he is not allowed to travel. He also has a house in Rio de Janeiro, where he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for three decades. The former army captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested since the end of the country's military rule from 1964 to 1985, which Bolsonaro supported. 'Flagrant disrespect' The move from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, pleading for Brazil's congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are either under trial or jailed for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio through the phone of one of his sons, which de Moraes' described as illegal. 'The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendant's son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile, with the objective of hiding the legal transgression,' de Moraes wrote. Flávio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil 'is officially in a dictatorship' after his father's house arrest. 'The persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits!' the senator wrote. De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, has spread messages with 'a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary' — likely a veiled reference to Trump's support for Bolsonaro. De Moraes also said that Bolsonaro 'addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio' on Sunday so his supporters could 'try to coerce the Supreme Court.' Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression regarding Bolsonaro's trial. On Monday, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs called the Brazilian justice 'a U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser' and accused him of using "institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy." De Moraes said in his decision that '(Brazil's) judiciary will not allow a defendant to make a fool out of it." "Justice is the same for all. A defendant who willingly ignores precautionary measures — for the second time — must suffer legal consequences,' he said. Possible trouble ahead Creomar de Souza, a political analyst of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia, said Bolsonaro's house arrest opens a new moment for the country's opposition, which will could gather steam in fighting against Lula's reelection bid next year. Now, de Souza said, 'the 2026 election looks like turmoil' and the political debate in Brazil will likely be split between two key struggles. 'One is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right, no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there,' the analyst said. 'The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government.' 'This is just the start,' he concluded. The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring, allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his home. Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court, citing the bias of the judge in the case. Michel Temer, who became president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, was arrested for 10 days in 2019 in connection with a graft investigation, which later ended without a conviction. Earlier this year, de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor, who was in office from 1990 to 1992 until he was impeached. The 75-year-old former president was convicted for money laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his more than eight-year sentence. Hours after the order, right-wing lawmakers criticized de Moraes' decision and compared Bolsonaro's situation to that of his predecessors. 'House arrest for Jair Bolsonaro by de Moraes. Reason: corruption?' asked lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira. 'No. His kids posted his content on social media. Pathetic.' The far-right leader is already barred from next year's election due to an abuse of power conviction by the country's top electoral court. 'And those who attacked it are about to pay,' Salabert said.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
White House preparing order to fine banks for dropping customers for political reasons, WSJ reports
(Reuters) -The White House is preparing an executive order that would fine banks for dropping customers for political reasons, directing regulators to investigate potential violations of credit, antitrust, and consumer protection laws by financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Adams slams Zohran Mamdani for blowing off NYPD funerals before mayoral bid: ‘Where was he?'
Mayor Eric Adams slammed mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani for blowing off NYPD funerals during his years as a state lawmaker — and only now showing up while making a run for City Hall. 'You should lift up officers when you're not running for mayor,' Adams told reporters at City Hall on Monday. 'He could have lifted them up when he was an assemblyman. He could have done it over the years when he was in Albany. 3 Zohran Mamdani has blown off six NYPD funerals since joining the state Assembly. csuarez Advertisement 'We lost officers before he was running for mayor. Where was he? Did he feel those officers deserve to be lifted up as he lifted up now Officer Islam during the election? We need to ask, where was he?' Mamdani, 33, served more than four years in the state Assembly before his surprise Democratic mayoral primary win against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June. The Ugandan-born lefty paid his respects to relatives of NYPD cop Didarul Islam last week, after the four-year department veteran was gunned down in a mass shooting inside a Park Avenue office building. Advertisement But that was apparently a rare moment. Records reviewed by The Post show that Mamdani was a no-show — and didn't say a peep — after a half dozen of New York's Finest died during his tenure in Albany after they were gunned down in the line of duty. 3 Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani paid his respects at the funeral of NYPD cop Didarul Islam — an apparent first for the pol. Stephen Yang 3 Mayor Eric Adams slammed Zohran Mamdani for only showing up at an NYPD funeral after launching a mayoral bid. James Keivom Advertisement All six hero cops who died between January 2022 and March of last year — Jonathan Diller, Troy D. Patterson, Lawrence Bromm, Wilbert Mora, Jason Rivera and crossing guard Krystyna Naprawa — were laid to rest before thousands in uniform, but not even condolences were offered by the Queens lawmaker. 'Not one time has [Mamdani] said something in response to a police officer who's been shot or killed,' Adams said Monday, pointing out the 2022 killing of Mora and Rivera. 'We cannot find one tweet that he made, or one comment that he made when that happened.' Neither did The Post.
