MUST READ:
Speaking the Truth to a Neo-liberal Dictatorship: Gen. Yoweri Tibuhaburwa Kaguta Museveni please stop the kidnaps, torture and murder of Ugandans
https://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2021/02/speaking-truth-to-neo-liberal.html
Museveni torture rampage continues amidst a bogus Uganda Human Rights Commission : Detainees forced to eat 3kg of posho, 1kg of beans in 20 minutes: NUP man claims being tortured in military cell
https://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2021/03/museveni-torture-rampage-continues.html
Museveni’s Military mercilessly beats up Journalists in front of United Nations Human Rights Offices: The UN should stop the pretence that Neo-liberal dictatorships can be democracies that uphold human rights
https://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2021/02/musevenis-military-mercilessly-beats-up.html
Uganda: End Enforced Disappearances of Opponents
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/11/uganda-end-enforced-disappearances-opponents
Investigate Abuses; Release Those in Arbitrary Detention
(Nairobi) – Ugandan
authorities should take immediate steps to end the ongoing abductions by
suspected state agents and cease the unlawful detention without trial
of opposition supporters, Human Rights Watch said today.
On March 4, 2021, Internal Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo presented a list to parliament
of 177 people in military detention who had been arrested between
November 18, 2020, and February 8, 2021, allegedly for “participating in
riots,” “possession of military stores,” and “meetings planning
post-election violence.” On March 8, in a public letter to the media,
President Yoweri Museveni said that 50 people are being held by the Special Forces Command, a unit of the Ugandan army, for “treasonable acts of elements of the opposition.”
On November 18, security forces had clamped down
on protesters demanding the release of the then-detained opposition
presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine.
“The recent spate of enforced disappearances has only compounded the
intense climate of fear in Uganda following the recent violent national
elections,” said Oryem Nyeko,
Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should
urgently investigate these disappearances and other abuses and hold
those responsible, including members of security forces, to account.”
The authorities should investigate all cases of enforced disappearances
to determine the whereabouts and status of all victims, release all
those arbitrarily detained, and prosecute those responsible, Human
Rights Watch said. Anyone lawfully detained should have immediate access
to their family and lawyers, and anyone not yet charged and placed in
pretrial detention, should be released in accordance with the law.
Between February 17 and March 3, Human Rights Watch spoke with 10
relatives of people abducted, witnesses, opposition members, and civil
society members, in Kampala. Witnesses described how armed men picked up
people off the streets or from their homes and took them away in
unmarked vans without numbered license plates; commonly referred to in Uganda as “Drones.”
Human Rights Watch spoke to victims who said that their abductors beat
and detained them in “safe houses” and questioned them about their
political affiliation or their role in the protests, then dropped them
off at random locations. The circumstances of many others who were
abducted and taken to safe houses is unknown.
Shadia Nakaweesi said that on November 20, about 20 men in black police
uniforms broke into her home, beat her 34-year-old husband, Hassan
Mubiru, then drove him away in a black “Drone.” Nakaweesi said that when
she tried to report him missing at a nearby police station, the
officers refused to accept the complaint. Her husband’s whereabouts
remains unknown.
A victim, Alvin Ddamulira, said that six armed men abducted him, his
51-year-old father, John Ddamulira, and three others at their spare
parts shop at Kisekka market in Kampala on November 21. The men
blindfolded, handcuffed, and beat them, then drove them in a white
“Drone” to an unmarked building, where, he said, a man told them, “You
people from Kisekka market, stop rioting. The president is not happy
about what you are doing.” At 1 a.m. the following day, the abductors
dumped four of the men in Bweyogerere, 12 kilometers from Kisekka
Market. John Ddamulira was not released and has not been heard from
since.
On November 24, Rose Nakayiza said, she was told by a friend that her
husband, Rashid Kalunda, 32, had been taken away in a “Drone” by men in
black uniforms, with two others – Fred Jingo and Sunday Mwange – from
Owino market in Kampala. Nakayiza said that her efforts to locate her
husband in several police stations and the military intelligence office
have so far been fruitless.
On March 5, Kyagulanyi’s party, the National Unity Platform, said that 423 members and supporters had been abducted and were still missing, and another 41 had been released by their abductors.
On February 8, media reported that Ronald Segawa,
who had been missing since late January, was found dumped unconscious
at the Mulago hospital morgue in Kampala. The next day Kyagulanyi shared pictures of Segawa’s scarred body
on Twitter during a visit to him in a hospital, saying that he had been
burned, electrocuted, and had his fingernails plucked out allegedly for
campaigning for Kyagulanyi.
The Ugandan constitution, in line with international human rights norms,
requires the authorities to produce anyone accused of a crime in court
within 48 hours and to ensure the detainees’ right of access to a
lawyer, and their family and to receive any needed medical attention.
An enforced disappearance
occurs when agents of the state, or organized groups or private
individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or
indirect, consent or acquiescence of the government, deprive someone of
their liberty and then refuse to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty;
or to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned,
placing them outside the protection of the law.
The January 14 elections were characterized by widespread violence and human rights violations
during which security forces clamped down on opposition members and
journalists, violently arresting scores of people, including Kyagulanyi
and Patrick Amuriat, another presidential candidate, multiple times. The
authorities also shut down the internet for five days, and blocked
access to social media websites for a month.
On February 5, 2020, Uganda’s parliamentary human rights committee released a report
in which they found that security forces detained and tortured people
in unofficial detention facilities across Uganda, commonly known as
“safe houses.”
Arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and inhuman or degrading
treatment and torture are strictly prohibited at all times under
international, regional, and Ugandan law. The prohibition not only
obligates governments to comply with the law, but entails a duty to
investigate when suspected violations occur and prosecute those
responsible. Enforced disappearances and torture may also constitute and
be prosecuted as a crime against humanity if they form part of a
state-sponsored policy or practice, or are part of a broader attack
against civilians by state authorities.
“The Ugandan authorities should act immediately to stop the egregious
violations that have taken place since the elections, including by
releasing those held incommunicado, shutting down all secret detention
facilities, and holding those responsible to account,” Nyeko said. “The
government should respect political plurality and end the harassment of
opposition members.”
Uganda’s Beaten Journalists Deserve Justice
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/22/ugandas-beaten-journalists-deserve-justice
Opaque Military Trials No Substitute for Accountability and Security Sector Reform
Oryem Nyeko
