KAMPALA, Uganda
A prominent Ugandan author jailed for nearly a month was freed on bail Tuesday but then was quickly rearrested by authorities, according to his attorney.
It
is not known where Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is being held, said defence lawyer
Eron Kiiza.
Rukirabashaija,
a writer of satirical fiction, won bail earlier on Tuesday following a court
session in which he appeared before a magistrate via video conference. He was
ordered not to publicly discuss details of his detention as a condition of his
bail.
But
it appears security officials then removed him from the maximum-security prison
where he was being held. When Kiiza and others took court papers to the prison
outside Kampala, the capital, they were told that the suspect had been driven
away by people who looked like security officers, according to Kiiza. The court
papers also were allegedly confiscated.
Rukirabashaija,
who has been detained since Dec. 28, was charged earlier this month with two
counts of “offensive communication” for his alleged efforts on Twitter to
“disturb the peace” of President Yoweri Museveni and his son, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi
Kainerugaba, who commands the East African country’s infantry forces.
The
writer’s trouble stemmed from a series of tweets in which he described Museveni
as an election thief and first son Kainerugaba as an overweight and
“intellectually bankrupt” soldier who hopes to succeed his father as president.
The writer has been detained twice before over his work highlighting the
failures of Museveni, Uganda’s leader since 1986.
The
case has renewed focus on the alleged excesses of the security forces in
enforcing Museveni’s authority.
Rukirabashaija’s
Twitter handle was disabled while he was in custody.
“No
one has been able to see him who is looking for him,” Kiiza said. “He is in the
hands of the military.”
The
police, the prisons service, and the military did not immediately comment on
the allegations.
Activists,
opposition figures and others in Uganda and internationally had called for
Rukirabashaija’s release amid reports he was tortured while in custody.
Natalie
E. Brown, the U.S. ambassador to Uganda, said on Twitter she was “deeply
concerned” by reports of Rukirabashaija’s arrest after a court had ordered his
release.
“In
democratic societies, rule of law and judicial independence must be respected,
especially by security agencies,” she said.
Rukirabashaija,
33, last year was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize for an international writer of
courage. English PEN, a human rights organization for writers, has called for
his release.
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