Two Togolese opposition leaders are being held by the authorities after they were arrested over the weekend.

Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, who in 2010 was the first woman in the country to run for president, was detained on Saturday shortly after visiting a fellow opposition member who had been arrested earlier.

Gerard Djossou, in charge of human rights in the Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro (DMK) party, had been arrested on Friday.

The public prosecutor says an investigation has been opened against them for “attacking the internal security of the state".

The party has condemned the arrests, as a "manoeuvre whose goal is nothing less than to decapitate the movement", AFP news agency reports.

The opposition has been stepping up its campaign against President Faure Gnassingbé, who they claim stole the February election.

It had called for a rally in the capital Lomé on Saturday to protest against the election results but it was cancelled by the government who cited the risk of spreading coronavirus.

Gnassingbé has led Togo's population of eight million people after taking over from his father Gnassingbé Eyadema, who ruled for 38 years, in 2005.