Tanzania charges more than 200 with treason after election protests

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzania charged more than 200 people with treason, a lawyer and judicial sources told AFP, after days of election protests in which the opposition says hundreds were killed.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the 29 October poll with 98 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission, but the opposition, which was barred from participating, has branded the election a "sham".

Violent protests broke out across the east African country on election day, with sources indicating hundreds - if not thousands - may have been killed.

At the same time, a days-long internet shutdown hampered the release of verified information.

Hundreds of people appeared in court on Friday in the economic hub Dar es Salaam.

"All of these ladies and gentlemen, numbering more than 250 in total, were arraigned in three separate cases... and they're all charged with two sets of offences," lawyer Peter Kibatala told AFP on Friday.

"The first set of a sense of offence is a conspiracy to commit treason. And the second set of offences is treason itself," he said.

Judicial sources in the court told AFP they knew of at least 240 people charged.

Opposition party Chadema says at least 800 people were killed in the election violence. Diplomatic and security have sources backed that estimate, adding there are credible reports the numbers could reach thousands.

The authorities have so far declined to release any toll for dead or injured.

Police also said late Friday that they were looking for opposition party leaders - including secretary general John Mnyika, his deputy Amani Golugwa, and spokesperson Brenda Rupia - in connection with the violence.

"Following our investigations and evidence we gathered, we are looking for these 10 people to arrest them. We call on them to surrender to the police immediately," Tanzania police spokesperson David Misime said in a statement.

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