More than 200 people have been charged with "treason" in Tanzania in connection with the harshly repressed protests that followed the recent elections, judicial sources told AFP.

On Friday, hundreds of people were brought before the court in the economic capital, Dar es Salaam.

More than 250 people were then charged with "treason" and "conspiracy to commit treason" in three separate cases, lawyer Peter Kibatala told AFP outside the court on Friday evening.

Judicial sources at the court told AFP they were aware of at least 240 indictments.

According to indictments consulted by AFP, most of the accused are accused of having, on October 29, the day of the election, wanted to "obstruct the general elections (presidential and legislative) of 2025 in order to intimidate the executive power".

The East African country is struggling to recover from the spontaneous protest movement that was violently suppressed.

The main opposition party, Chadema, put the death toll at least 800. Diplomatic and security sources corroborated reports that hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed in connection with the elections.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan officially won the presidential election, from which her two main rivals had been barred, with nearly 98% of the vote. However, foreign observers questioned the credibility of the election, which Chadema described as a "parody of democracy."

Although Tanzanian authorities, who have so far refused to release any human toll, blocked the internet for five days and then tried to prevent the publication of photos and videos of the victims, these began to appear on social media at the beginning of the week.

On Friday evening, the police indicated they were searching for several Chadema party officials, including its secretary general John Mnyika, his deputy Amani Golugwa, and its spokesperson Brenda Rupia, calling on them in a statement to "surrender immediately".

AFP