UNWANTED! Besigye Lawyer Martha Karua’s Passport Confiscated, Set to be Deported

Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye’s lawyer as Kenya’s People’s Liberation Party (PLP) party leader Martha Karua says she was denied entry into Tanzania. Martha Karua says there were plans by Tanzanian authorities to deport her back to Kenya.

On May 18, 2025, Martha Karua said authorities confiscated her passport at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, and held her pending deportation.

Also being held were lawyers Lynn Ngugi and Gloria Kimani, Martha Karua further noted.

“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 Karua.

“I arrived at Dar es Salaam, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport at 9 a.m., and immigration referred my passport to the supervisor, who kept me waiting for an hour as she consulted her superiors.”

Martha Karua was expected in Tanzania as a guest of the East Africa Law Society (EALS). She was meant to offer support to Tundu Lissu, a leading Tanzanian opposition leader jailed under the increasingly repressive regime of Samia Suluhu Hassan.

She suspects that her being blocked could have been informed by Tanzania’s plan to stop her from participating in the Lissu’s case. The Tanzanian state has preferred charges of treason against Lissu.

“The common thread between Gloria Kimani, a council member of LSK, and Lynn Ngugi is that we are guests of EALS. I suspect all visitors who may be interested in the politically motivated case against Tundu Lissu are being denied entry,” Karua noted, further questioning the spirit of regional integration.

“I am concerned that, as a citizen of Jumuiya, my access within the East African Community (EAC) appears inexplicably restr!cted.”

Ramadhan Abubakar Mukira, the president of the EALS, urged President Suluhu to allow Kenyan advocates into Tanzania in the spirit of EAC integration.

“I have just received news that Hon Martha Karua SC, LSK Council Member Gloria Kimani and Ms. Lynn Ngugi have been denied entry into the United Republic of Tanzania this morning at the Julius Nyerere International Airport. We have dispatched our representatives to assist and assess the situation,” wrote Mukira.

“I am imploring on HE President Suluhu Samia to intervene and allow entry in the spirit and letter of the EAC Treaty on freedom of Movement of all East Africans.”

Tanzania’s Tindu Lissu faces similar charges like Dr Besigye who has been in prison since November 2024.

The Ugandan state accuses Besigye of plotting to overthrow Museveni, and is pushing for a law to try him and other civilians in military courts controlled by Museveni and his son, also army chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who has vowed to hang Besigye. (See Details Here, There and Over There).

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