Detained opposition leaders released in Tanzania

Tanzania has released 520 opposition members who were detained in a bid to prevent them from holding a youth rally that the authorities said could have triggered unrest. Bloomberg Africa reports that those freed late Monday without any charges include Chadema party Chairperson Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu. Authorities banned an International Youth Day gathering that had been planned for Monday in the central Mbeya region, alleging that Chadema’s leaders intended to incite violence.

However, the AFP news agency reports that the party’s Deputy Secretary General Benson Kigaila reported that Lissu, along with Chadema Secretary General John Mnyika and regional leader Joseph Mbilinyi, were “severely beaten during their arrest.” Kigaila added that Lissu, who had survived an assassination attempt in 2017 and previously lived in exile, was “dragged by the officers and thrown into the vehicle.”