Kenya has called on Tanzanian authorities to immediately release former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and two other Kenyan human rights activists who were detained in Dar es Salaam.
The appeal was made on Monday by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei, amid rising concerns over an apparent crackdown on Kenyan legal observers and civil society representatives attending opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s high-profile treason trial.
Mutunga was arrested early Monday at Julius Nyerere International Airport alongside Hanifa Adan and Hussein Khalid, both prominent human rights advocates affiliated with HAKI Africa and MUHURI, respectively.
The trio had traveled to Tanzania to observe legal proceedings involving Lissu, a fierce critic of President Samia Suluhu’s government, who is facing treason charges linked to his ‘No Reform, No Elections’ campaign.
Their arrest comes amid increasing hostility toward Kenyan activists and legal observers in Tanzania. Just hours earlier, former Kenyan Minister for Constitutional Affairs Martha Karua, lawyer Gloria Kimani, and human rights advocate Lynn Ngugi were deported from the country.
“We strongly urge the authorities in Tanzania to release the former Chief Justice of Kenya and his delegation in line with the principles of the East African Community,” Sing’oei stated.
