Jailed Tanzanian opposition leader nominated for EU human rights prize - Tundu Lissu, Tanzania’s main opposition leader, has been nominated for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

The nomination came from the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament. The prize is the EU’s highest human rights award. Lissu is chairman of CHADEMA, a lawyer, and a longtime critic of the government. He is in prison on a treason charge that can carry the death penalty.

Police arrested him on April 9, 2025, after a rally where he called for election reforms. He was charged with treason and publishing false information. He has been held at Ukonga Maximum Security Prison in Dar es Salaam and is still on trial. The European Parliament has already called the case politically motivated and demanded his release. A UN working group later called his detention arbitrary.

Lissu survived an assassination attempt in 2017, when he was shot 16 times. This nomination does not free him. It puts his case in front of the EU as the prize process moves forward.