Karua, a lawyer who is a potential candidate for Kenya’s 2027 presidential election, said she was expelled from Tanzania on Sunday ahead of attending opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s treason trial.
Karua, a former justice minister who has been vocal about ‘democratic backsliding’ in East Africa, said her deportation was a sign that the authorities in Tanzania would not hold a fair trial for Chadema party leader Tindu Lissu.
Lissu, who is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, is facing treason charges that could result in the death penalty.
Karua said she and her colleagues – Gloria Kimani, a council member of the Law Society of Kenya, and Lynn Ngugi, a human rights advocate – were stopped on arrival at the Dar es Salaam airport and put on a return flight the same day.
She said they were detained “for no offence, [but] for merely seeking to go and stand for solidarity and to observe the trial of Tundu Lissu”.
Karua’s People’s Liberation Party (PLP) has denounced the deportation saying: “This disgraceful act is not only an affront to their personal dignity and fundamental freedoms but also a blatant violation of the principles of the East African Community [EAC], of which both Kenya and Tanzania are founding members.”
According to Karua, her deportation shows that Tanzania’s ruling party is “determined to violate the law and are not keen on according Tundu Lissu a fair trial”.
Lissu’s Chadema party was disqualified from taking part in the October elections after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct. It had demanded electoral reforms, accusing Hassan of returning to the repressive tactics of past rulers.
Credit: theafricareport