By Our Reporter
People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua says she was detained and denied entry to Tanzania on Sunday, May 18, 2025.
In a social media post on Sunday morning, Karua said she, alongside human rights defenders Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi were detained at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Tanzania.
“I have been denied entry into Tanzania and I and two colleagues are awaiting deportation at Mwalimu Nyerere International Airport Dar es Salaam,” Karua wrote in a tweet.
The three were headed to Tanzania on the invitation of the East Africa Law Society.
According to Karua, she arrived in Tanzania at 9.00 am, and an immigration official at the airport referred her passport to the supervisor.
The said supervisor kept her waiting for an hour as she “consulted her superiors”, who later denied her entry to Tanzania.
“I am concerned that as a citizen of @jumuiya my access within @jumuiya country appears inexplicably restricted,” Karua added.
The Kenyan Senior Counsel says the denial of entry is linked to her interest in the case against Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. The Chadema party chairman was on April 10 charged with treason after his arrest at a public rally where he called for electoral reforms.
Karua has since led a pan-african rights lobby group seeking the release of Lissu and the dropping of the politically motivated charges against him.
Karua, Ngugi and Kimani were set to observe a hearing related to the case against Lissu, scheduled for Monday, May 19, at the Kisutu courts.
