The latest inline in Uganda’s crackdown of critics of the government is Kakwenza Rukirabashaija. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged an investigation into reports that the satirical writer was tortured by military elements. This information is published by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Here is an excerpt:
Ugandan authorities should urgently investigate reports that military officers tortured the exiled satirical writer and government critic Kakwenza Rukirabashaija while he was forcibly disappeared for 14 days, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should unconditionally drop any charges against the author and ensure that all security officials implicated in his torture and enforced disappearance are held to account.
On December 28, 2021, military officers broke into Rukirabashaija’s home in Kampala, beat and blindfolded him, confiscated his phone, and drove off with him to an unknown location where he was kept for 14 days without access to family or lawyers. On January 11, 2022, the police charged Rukirabashaija with “offensive communication” over his tweets criticizing President Yoweri Museveni and his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba. On February 9, two days after a court denied his application to have his passport returned, Rukirabashaija said he had fled the country to seek medical treatment for the injuries caused by the torture.
“It is intolerable that Ugandan security forces are still torturing and ill-treating detainees,” said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of prosecuting their critics over tweets, the Ugandan authorities should be investigating this and many other serious allegations of torture by state security in recent years.”
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