{"id":43412,"date":"2026-08-21T16:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43412"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:52:13","slug":"tanzanian-opposition-leader-lissu-seeks-to-summon-president","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/tanzanian-opposition-leader-lissu-seeks-to-summon-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Tanzanian opposition leader Lissu seeks to summon President \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu has formally requested the country\u2019s highest court to summon President Samia Suluhu Hassan as a key witness in his defense against treason charges.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lissu, a prominent figure in the main opposition Chadema party, is facing treason allegations for reportedly calling for a boycott of upcoming elections. In addition to Hassan, Lissu\u2019s submitted witness list includes 10 other high-profile figures, among them a former Prime Minister as well as senior security and intelligence officials.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>State prosecutors have raised strong objections to the application, citing legal and constitutional protections regarding calling a sitting President to testify. The prosecution further argued that evidence previously presented in court involved officials acting under executive authority, making the president&#8217;s direct testimony unnecessary.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lissu has denied all charges, maintaining that the trial is politically motivated.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15488,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-43412","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Tanzania's Tundu Lissu demands President Samia Suluhu Hassan testify in court","published_date":"2026-08-21 16:16:21","news_description":"Tanzania's Tundu Lissu demands President Samia Suluhu Hassan testify in court","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43413,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43412\/revisions\/43413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}