Lissu healthy, tells public not to be silenced: Mnyika

Dar es Salaam. Chadema Deputy Secretary General John Mnyika visited Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) President Tundu Lissu in police custody, and wrote on his Facebook account that “he is healthy and his message is that the public should not be silenced.”

Mr Mnyika, who is also Kibamba MP, visited Lissu yesterday morning. “He is healthy. His message to the public is that we should not be silenced.”

On Thursday, police arrested Mr Lissu, who is also Chadema Chief Legal Officer and Singida East MP, at the Julius Nyerere International Airport on his way to Kigali, Rwanda, to attend a meeting of the East African Community Bar Association and are still holding him. According to Mr Mnyika, Mr Lissu is being held at the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam, for what is described as “making seditious remarks in public”.

On Wednesday, Mr Lissu, refused to leave Dodoma District Court for over three hours to avoid being arrested by police. He said he had information that plainclothes police officers went to his Dar es Salaam residence to arrest him and feared they must have communicated with their Dodoma colleagues to do so.

He only left after Dodoma police boss Lazaro Mambosasa assured him that there was no such a plan.

On Monday, Mr Lissu appealed to the international community to cut financial aid to President John Magufuli’s administration as a measure to press for respect for principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights in the country. Information Services director Hassan Abbasi said the remarks were inflammatory.