Senior Kenyan counsel Martha Karua, together with two human rights defenders Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi, were refused entry into Tanzania upon landing at the Dar-es-salaam terminal.
The trio got detained at Julius Nyerere International Airport shortly after jetting in the city. There is the possibility that they may even be deported back to Nairobi.
The trio, who were invited by the East Africa Law Society, had travelled to Tanzania to observe a court hearing involving Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is facing treason charges.
Martha Karua, in response, complained against the violation of East African community values and claimed that their refusal to enter Tanzania was politically motivated
The People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua said she, alongside human rights defenders Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi were detained at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar-es-salaam as they jetted into the country to follow up on the ongoing case against Tundu Lissu.
“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.
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 the East African Community my access within an EAC member state appears inexplicably restricted,” Karua added.
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 Magistrate court in Dar.
She previously attended the first botched hearing and spoke vehemently against the issue of Tanzania Police attacking innocent people who had turned up at the court to follow up the case proceedings.