The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna has called on the Tanzanian government to provide the whereabouts of CHADEMA Deputy Party Leader John Heche.
Taking to social media on Monday, Sifuna relayed that Heche had been planning to attend Raila Odinga's funeral before his alleged arrest in Tanzania.
"John Heche, Deputy Chairman of the CHADEMA party, was supposed to attend the funeral of Baba Raila Amolo Odinga, as he has been his long-time friend," Sifuna said.
"He was humiliated and detained at the border by the Tanzanian government. His whereabouts are currently unknown, as he was taken away by the police while he was following up on the Tundu Lissu case," he added.
As such, he called on the government to release or formally charge him in court in Tarime, as his family had been told.
This follows his arrest on Wednesday while attempting to attend the treason trial of his party leader, Tundu Lissu, just days after he was briefly held on Saturday as he attempted to cross into Kenya to attend Raila's burial.
Lissu, the main opposition leader in Tanzania, was arrested in April this year and charged with treason after calling for election reforms.
Speaking with the BBC on Thursday, Heche's brother Edward Heche said that the police officers had informed him that they did not know the whereabouts of his brother.
"I have contacted Tarime Police to confirm whether he has been brought here to be charged, but we have been told that he has not been brought and there is no official report that he will be brought to Tarime and that they do not expect him to be brought to the area," he said.
On Wednesday, the CHADEMA party reported that John Heche had been transported to Tarime by the Police Force after being arrested earlier that day.
The Legal Director of the party, Gaston Garubindi, made the confirmation, saying, "Mr Heche was arrested by the police while he was in court for crimes that they have not mentioned."
Now, the Heche family has issued an ultimatum to the Tanzanian police to produce their kin or else they will mobilise other citizens to help them look for him themselves.
