Second Tanzanian opposition figure faces death penalty after treason charges

A senior official with Tanzania's main opposition Chadema party was on Wednesday charged with treason, which carries a potential death penalty.

The prosecution of John Pambalu represents another example of the repression of government critics after the October 2025 elections which were marked by widespread and bloodily repressed protests.

Pambalu, a member of Chadema's national council and former leader of the party's youth wing, is accused of intending to "persuade the public to cause obstruction of the General Election" in 2025, the charge sheet read.

The document accused him of "conducting endless protests... for the purpose of intimidating (the) Executive of the Republic of Tanzania."

Pambalu is the second Chadema official to face treason charges after party leader Tundu Lissu. Lissu's trial, seen by observers as largely political, is set to wrap up shortly.

"I'm informed that our John Pambalu has been charged with treason," Chadema's deputy chairperson John Heche told a public meeting in the northern city of Arusha.

"I know that they plan a similar case for me but I will not run away from my own country," Heche said, vowing that Chadema "will fight to the end."

The party was eventually excluded from the October 2025 vote, which was eventually won by President Samia Suluhu Hassan with 98 percent of the vote, according to official results.

Around 2,000 people were killed by the police and security forces during the post-election demonstrations, according to the opposition and rights groups.

An inquiry launched by Hassan -- which the opposition has slammed as biased -- put the death toll from the violence at 518 people, without identifying those responsible.

Hassan became president following the death of authoritarian leader John Magufuli in March 2021 and was initially praised for easing restrictions on the opposition and media.

However, the opposition now accuses Hassan of a return to the policies of her predecessor.