Kenya’s immediate former Chief Justice David Maraga has arrived in Tanzania ahead of opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s court case.

“Safely arrived in Dar-es-Salaam. Headed to court for the Tundu Lissu Court Case,” he wrote on X.

Maraga's arrival comes a day after People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua was controversially denied entry and deported back to Kenya.

Karua announced this on her X page on Sunday morning, saying that she was detained at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam together with Law Society of Kenya Council Member Gloria Kimani and Pan-African Progressive Leaders Solidarity Network Lynn Ngugi. 

They were set to observe a hearing related to the case against Tundu Lissu, scheduled for Monday, May 19, at the Kisutu Magistrates' Court, where Maraga has arrived this morning.

Former CJ Willy Mutunga was also detained early Monday at Julius Nyerere International Airport alongside prominent human rights defenders Hanifa Adan and Hussein Khalid. Kenya’s activist Boniface Mwangi also took to his X page that his life is in danger while at a hotel in Tanzania. 

Tundu Lissu, who is the leader of Chadema, Tanzania’s main opposition party, was charged with treason over an alleged speech calling on Tanzanians to rebel and disrupt the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections that are scheduled for October 2025.

In April 2025, his party was disqualified from competing in the 2025 Tanzanian general election after the National Electoral Commission said that the party had failed to sign a code of conduct document that was due on 12 April.