Donors urged to suspend aid to Tanzanian government after ‘poisoning attempt' on detained opposition leader
Lawyers for Tanzania's imprisoned opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, have called on donor countries to suspend aid to the country's government because of 'credible reports' of an attempt to poison Lissu while in custody.
The law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP, international counsel for Chadema — the main opposition party, which Lissu leads — said it was alarmed by the reports of the attempted poisoning.
'The attempt, first brought to light by Chadema party officials, marks a chilling escalation in the systematic persecution of political opposition figures under the administration of President Samia Suluhu Hassan,' said the firm.
Robert Amsterdam, founder and managing partner of the firm, said, 'The latest attack on my client is not an isolated act, but part of a broader campaign to silence and destroy the political opposition in Tanzania.
'From fabricated treason charges, unlawful detention and denial of legal access, to the targeting of opposition supporters and foreign activists, the Tanzanian government has crossed every red line of democratic legitimacy.
'Chadema has previously warned of deliberate repression, with numerous members abducted, detained, or harassed in recent months. The poisoning attempt is just the latest in a pattern of politically motivated abuses.
'In light of these developments, Amsterdam & Partners LLP is calling on all donor states and institutions providing budgetary support to the Tanzanian government to immediately suspend such aid pending independent investigations and demonstrable reform.
'President Hassan should hang her head in shame. We will be actively engaging with donor governments in the coming days to urge a suspension of support. No government should subsidise state violence against democratic opposition.'
Lissu, a lawyer and human rights advocate who survived a previous assassination attempt in 2017 when he was shot 16 times, was arrested in April 2025 and remains detained on what Amsterdam called 'politically motivated charges of treason'.
The firm said it had filed an application with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in response to Lissu's arrest and detention. 'The apparent poisoning attempt adds a new and deeply disturbing dimension to his detention,' it said.
Lissu was arrested and charged with treason — which can carry the death penalty — for calling on Tanzanians to disrupt the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for October, because, he said, they would not be free and fair.
Chadema has been disqualified from the polls for demanding changes such as an independent electoral commission to ensure a fairer contest. Hassan's party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, has been in power since the country's independence from British rule in 1961.
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm based in Washington, DC, and London, with a focus on political advocacy and human rights. DM
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