Tanzania’s Tundu Lissu critically wounded

ELAW staff are shocked and saddened to hear that Tanzanian lawyer Tundu Lissu, an MP and the chief whip of the opposition parties in the Tanzanian Parliament, was shot several times by an unknown gunman near his home in the Tanzanian capital, Dodoma. We call on the government of Tanzania to undertake a thorough investigation and hold those responsible accountable for this horrible crime.

Tundu Lissu is an outspoken leader who has criticized Tanzania’s President for muzzling the opposition. Many years ago, Lissu courageously worked with the Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (LEAT), one of ELAW’s partner organizations in East Africa campaigning against, among other things, exploitative extractive industry agreements signed by the Tanzanian government and foreign mining companies. This did not and has not endeared him to the government and mining companies.

Lissu was flown to Nairobi where he is being treated for several gunshot wounds.  We understand his situation is still critical and are awaiting news.

Find more information here:

Al Jazeera, September 8, 2017
Tanzania’s Tundu Lissu recovering after gun attack

Bern Johnson
Executive Director