Tundu Lissu said President Magufuli’s government has arrested Freeman Mbowe, the leader of the main opposition party Chadema.
Tanzanian opposition demand repeat election, citing widespread irregularities calling for protests against the election results, which returned President Magufuli to the office with 84 percent of the vote.
Mbowe was arrested together with other leaders including a former member of parliament Godbless Lema, the former mayor of Dar es Salaam, Isaya Mwita, and the former mayor of Ubungo municipality, Boniface Jacob.
“I got a message around midnight that they had been taken in,” Lissu told Reuters on Monday.
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Mwananchi, a privately-owned daily that publishes in Swahili, quoted Dar es Salaam’s regional police commander Lazaro Mambosasa as saying they had detained Mbowe and other opposition leaders.
The US said it was concerned about reports showing a “systematic interference in the democratic process”, while the UK noted that it was “troubled by the reports of violence and heavy-handed policing in the elections”.
