Prime
Journalist’s case highlights human rights violations
Obed Katureebe
What you need to know:
The issue: Human rights
Our view: We must, as a country, reject the normalisation of indefinite preventive arrest and detention of any person without a fair trial or some other form of legal process.
Journalist Obed Katureebe was taken into custody by security forces on May 2. At the time we were writing this, he remained in custody.
The details about the same are scanty beyond a carefully crafted statement that he is being held for his “own security”.
Mr Katureebe was picked up by security agents from his home and has never been seen ever since.
He is no ordinary Ugandan. Katureebe works for the Uganda Media Centre. That he has been detained incommunicado, speaks volumes and sheds light on a rather worrying trend of people being disappeared, detained without trial and sometimes tortured.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission has ordered the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) to immediately and unconditionally release him.
For emphasis, the Commission noted that Mr Katureebe “unlawfully detained and/or restricted” and that failure to unconditionally release him from custody makes those in charge of CMI liable for the contempt under Article 53(1) (d) of the Constitution”.
On several occasions, President Museveni has said that cases of illegal detention, torture and human rights violations will not be tolerated in the country.
Yet serious concerns of enforced disappearances, detention without trial and gross human rights violations by security forces and other shadowy actors linked to them continue. In their report, Human Rights Watch, noted “a marked deterioration in Uganda’s human rights environment over the past year [2021]”. It is our hope that Mr Katureebe will be released per the directive of UHRC and that if the state has any case against him, he should be formally charged before a competent court with jurisdiction to try him.
The statement that Mr Katureebe is being held for his own good should be treated with the contempt it deserves. It suggests that Uganda is unsafe for some of her citizens.
Further, if the Rwandan state or President Paul Kagame have any case against Mr Katureebe per the allegations that he operates a parody Twitter account of Robert Patrick Fati Gakwerere (@RGakwerere), which was being used to attack Mr Kagame then a case must be made before court.
The human rights of Ugandans, including Mr Katureebe, are protected under the Constitution and all other laws made under the constitution to maintain peace. Specifically, Uganda police are charged with maintaining security on behalf of the government. Its functions include protection of life and property, preservation of law and order, prevention and detection of crime, and cooperation with the civilian authority and other security agencies established under the constitution.
Detention for one’s own good should not be allowed to stand especially if it is not backed by any law. We must, as a country, reject the normalisation of indefinite preventive arrest and detention of any person without a fair trial or some other form of legal process. It is subject to abuse as we have seen when it comes to politics.
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