Tanzania: UN Experts Say No Accountability a Year After Post-Election Violence, Opposition Leader Still Detained
UN human rights experts said on October 29 that one year after post-election violence in the East African country of Tanzania, investigations have brought no accountability: the commission of inquiry into the October 2025 violence submitted its final report in April 2026, but only a summary was published, identifying no perpetrators and recommending no prosecutions.
The experts said no state official has been charged or investigated, families of victims of possible extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other grave violations remain denied truth and remedy, and no progress has been made in establishing how many people were killed.
A second commission established in August 2026 has an unclear mandate, which the experts said undermines accountability. They urged the authorities to hold perpetrators to account and publish verified figures for deaths, disappearances and detentions.
Hundreds of people remain in prolonged pre-trial detention on charges including treason and terrorism, many linked to the October 2025 election period. Opposition national chairman Tundu Lissu has been in custody since April 2025 facing a treason charge that carries the death penalty; the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled his detention arbitrary. His trial judgment is expected on November 6, 2026, and he began a hunger strike on October 26. The experts urged his release.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：坦桑尼亚反对派领袖通杜·利苏，Likumbage 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权 / Photo of Tundu Lissu by Likumbage, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
