By Rodney
Muhumuza, KAMPALA Uganda
A prominent writer and government critic who
accused Uganda’s security forces of torture has gone into exile ahead of a
looming criminal trial, his attorney said Wednesday.Kakwenza Rukirabashaija displays scars on his back that he claims were inflicted while he was tortured for weeks in detention, at a house in Kampala, Uganda on Feb. 8, 2022.
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija fled Uganda across the land
border with Rwanda and will settle at least temporarily in an unnamed European
country, Eron Kiiza told The Associated Press.
“Conditions had become impossible for him,” he said
of Rukirabashaija. “They kept surveilling him. They took away his passport. He
had no option but to go and save his life.”
Rukirabashaija alleged that he was tortured by
officials while in detention, and photographs of his mutilated back shocked
many in this East African country. Opposition politicians, activists and others
increasingly accuse the security forces — especially the Chieftaincy of
Military Intelligence — of torturing suspects in custody.
The international community is also taking notice.
The European Union’s delegation to Uganda on Monday issued a statement expressing
concern over “a situation that for more than a year has seen a significant
increase of reports of torture, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances,
harassment” and other attacks.Kakwenza Rukirabashaija
Last week the U.S. cited “recurring credible
accounts” of forced disappearances and torture by the security forces which
“reflect poorly” on the government of President Yoweri Museveni, who has held
power since 1986.
Rukirabashaija alleged that he was a recent victim
of torture at the hands of state agents who repeatedly attacked him while in
detention. A magistrate ordered him freed late last month but kept his passport
as a condition of his bail. He had been in custody for nearly a month.
“They started using a pair of pliers and plucked
flesh from my thighs and everywhere,” Rukirabashaija said in an account to the
local Daily Monitor newspaper. “That day I thought I was dying and thought of
denouncing my Ugandan citizenship.”
Kiiza, Rukirabashaija’s attorney, believes his
client was in the custody of the Special Forces Command, an army unit that
protects the first family. The Special Forces Command has not commented on
allegations its members held the writer. Nor has it responded to the torture
allegations.
Rukirabashaija, who said in court that he needed to
have his wounds treated abroad, lost his bid on Monday to regain his passport
when a magistrate ruled there was no urgent need for him to travel.
His trial on charges related to offensive
communication was due to start in March.
Prosecutors charge that, using Twitter, the writer aimed to “disturb the peace” of Museveni and his son, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who commands Uganda’s infantry forces.
In a series of tweets late last year,
Rukirabashaija described Museveni as an election thief and Kainerugaba as an
overweight and “intellectually bankrupt” soldier who hopes to succeed his
father as president.
Rukirabashaija, who writes satirical fiction, has
been detained twice before over his work highlighting Museveni’s failures. He
was last year awarded the PEN Pinter Prize for an international writer of
courage.
His case has renewed focus on the alleged excesses
of the security forces in enforcing Museveni’s authority.
Museveni, once praised as part of a new generation
of African leaders and a longtime U.S. security ally, still has support among
many Ugandans for bringing relative stability to the country. He once
criticized African leaders who refused to step aside but has since overseen the
removal of term limits and an age limit on Uganda’s presidency. - AP
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