When neo-liberal dictatorships with the Badest Guns palpitate due to a Pen: Kakwenza finally resurfaces in Iganga, ordered out of Kisaasi house

 

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija(L) with his lawyer Eron Kiiza

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Kakwenza finally resurfaces in Iganga, ordered out of Kisaasi house

https://observer.ug/news/headlines/72571-kakwenza-finally-resurfaces-in-iganga-ordered-out-of-kisaasi-house 

January 27, 2022

 

Written by URN

 

 

Award-winning satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has finally been released.

Kakwenza who is facing charges of offensive communication was kidnapped from the Kitalya prison on Tuesday shortly after Buganda Road court chief magistrate Douglas Singiza granted him bail. It was not immediately clear why he was kidnapped by people believed to be security personnel who stormed Kitalya prison and whisked him away.

His wife Eva Basiima says that Kakwenza was dumped at their home in Iganga district at around 3 am Wednesday. He has now been taken to the hospital for treatment of torture wounds allegedly inflicted on him during his time in custody.

"He has scars which are healing but he was complaining of pain in his internal organs. He told me not to reveal the hospital and you know he was also ordered by court not to talk to journalists over this case so you cannot talk to him," Basiima said on phone.

Basiima added that the family has also vacated their home in Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb after the landlord told them that he couldn't stand a tenant with 'issues.'

This is the home that Kakwenza was arrested from on December 28, 2021, and later arraigned before the court on charges of offensive communication.

It is alleged that Kakwenza used Twitter handle, @KakwenzaRukira, to post a series of tweets about President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his son Lt General Muhoozi Kainerugaba with no purpose of legitimate communication. In one of the tweets, Kakwenza allegedly refers to the president as an election thief and in another, he calls Muhoozi overweight and intellectually bankrupt.

The European Union in Uganda in an earlier short statement expressed concern over Kakwenza's continued detention and demanded his immediate release.

"We express our serious concern at reports that Ugandan writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been taken against his will by armed men and is again being held in an unknown place of detention. If confirmed, such an action just hours after a magistrate ordered for his release on bail is a clear disrespect to the rule of law and the right of a Ugandan citizen to a fair trial. Mr Rukirabashaija should be released immediately and we appeal to all parties concerned to ensure that the rule of law and due process are upheld in this and all cases in Uganda." the statement read. 

 

Why Did You Accept A Severely Tortured Prisoner? – Human Rights Lawyer Questions Prisons Bosses Over Kakwenza…

https://www.thegrapevine.co.ug/why-did-you-accept-a-severely-tortured-prisoner-human-rights-lawyer-questions-prisons-bosses-over-kakwenza/ 

January 22, 2022

Human Rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo has probed prison authorities on why they admitted a severely tortured Kakwenza Rukirabashaija.

Through his twitter account, Opiyo said,” Why did @UgandaPrisons admit @KakwenzaRukira to a prison facility when the law prohibits the admission of a person severely tortured? Was it that they considered his torture not severe?”

Opio quoted the law on Admission of prisoners into prison, Section 58, subsection 3, which says, “The officer in charge shall not admit any person in custody if the person is severely tortured and is in bad health condition.”

This was after a medical report from Prisons Commissioner General Dr. Kisambu James confirmed that writer Kakwenza was admitted to Kitalya Minimax prison with healing scars on the back, buttocks, thighs and hands.

Court yesterday postponed the ruling on Kakwenza’s bail application to Tuesday next week.

Kakwenza, who is currently on remand in Kitalya prison appeared on a zoom video conferencing for the hearing of his bail application.

Kakwenza’s lawyer Eron Kizza justified the bail application saying that his client had been tortured while in incarceration and therefore needs to access medical treatment.

Kizza also argued that the case which Kakwenza is being charged is bailable and therefore court should grant him his temporary freedom.

On the other hand, Prosecution State Attorney Joan Keko asked that Kakwenza should remain in detention because if released, he will have access to his social media platforms, twitter and Facebook and disrupt investigations.

Buganda Road Magistrate Dr. Douglas Singiza pushed the bail application to Tuesday, 25, January, 2022.

 

By Hope Kalamira