Tanzania Frees Opposition Leaders After Deadly Election Protests | News about protests

Despite the release, opposition leader Tundu Lisu remains behind bars, and hundreds have been charged with treason and other crimes.

Police in Tanzania released several high-ranking opposition leaders detained after deadly protests which followed disputed elections last month, according to the main opposition Chadema party.

Four senior officers of Chadema arrested last week for their alleged role in the protests were released on bail on Monday, the party said on social media.

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The unrest broke out when authorities cracked down on demonstrations against the re-election of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was declared the winner in the disputed elections with nearly 98 percent of the votes.

Chadema Deputy Chairman John Heche and Deputy Secretary General Amani Golugwa were among those released.

Heche was arrested on October 22 and questioned on suspicion of terrorism, according to his lawyer. Golugwa was arrested over the weekend.

Godbless Lema, a member of Chadema's central committee, and Boniface Jacob, the chairman of the party's coastal region branch, were also released.

There was no immediate word from the Tanzanian government on their release.

Along with the detention of Chadema officials, prosecutors charged at least 145 people suspected of involvement in protests across the country with treason. More than 170 others have been charged with other protest-related crimes.

“Shame on God”

Chadema leader Tundu Lissu was accused of treason in April and remains behind bars.

His exclusion from the October 29 presidential election was a major cause of the protests, which plunged Tanzania into its biggest political crisis in decades.

Opposition forces and human rights activists said security forces killed more than 1,000 people during the unrest.

Tanzania's Catholic Church condemned the killings, saying “the country has lost its dignity.”

“Such actions … are a disgrace before God,” Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Ruwaichi said during a service at St Joseph's Church in the capital Dar es Salaam.

The government insists the death tolls presented by the opposition are exaggerated, but has not offered its own estimate.

One-party rule has been the norm in Tanzania since the advent of multi-party politics in 1992. Hassan's opponents accuse her government of suppressing dissent and widespread kidnappings of critics.

African Union observers said the election did not meet democratic standards. They documented cases of ballot stuffing and other irregularities.

Hassan defended the fairness of the election and dismissed criticism of her human rights record.

Last year, she ordered an investigation into the reported abductions, but no findings have been released.