Amnesty International: Ugandan security forces have unlawfully targeted opposition rallies with unnecessary and excessive force and arbitrary arrests, and subjected some attendees to torture or other ill-treatment, Amnesty International said today.
The organization has documented incidents in which security officers launched tear gas at peaceful crowds in Kawempe and Iganga, and pepper-sprayed and beat people. These actions were accompanied by undue movement restrictions aimed at disrupting the opposition party National Unity Platform’s (NUP) campaign rallies.
Amnesty International also received reports and verified digital evidence of such disruptions in other parts of the country.
“The authorities have launched a brutal campaign of repression against the opposition and its supporters, making it extremely difficult for them to exercise their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
“The Ugandan authorities must uphold their human rights obligations and allow the opposition to hold its campaign rallies without undue restrictions and without subjecting their leaders and supporters to arrests, torture or other ill-treatment.”
An eyewitness told Amnesty International that during the Kawempe rally on 24 November, following the arrival of NUP presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, “police launched tear gas and pepper spray, to stop the rally”. The ensuing panic led to a stampede which caused dozens of people to fall into a deep ditch nearby. The police also used dogs to intimidate the crowd, pushed people into a truck with the butts of their rifles and beat them with batons and wires.
The authorities have launched a brutal campaign of repression against the opposition and its supporters, making it extremely difficult for them to exercise their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly. Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
According to one attendee of the NUP rally at Iganga’s Railway grounds on 28 November, the military used a truck to block one of the exits before opening fire on the crowd as they were attempting to leave the venue from the only remaining exit. One attendee of the rally, Miseach Okello, 35, died in circumstances that could be indicative of the unlawful use of force; an unknown number of others were injured.
The deceased’s family told Amnesty International that armed security officers prevented them from witnessing the postmortem process, apparently to prevent them from gathering evidence that could suggest that he was killed unlawfully. The family was never given a death certificate, nor were they told the cause of death.
Read full article on Uganda: Authorities subjecting opposition supporters to “brutal campaign of repression” ahead of elections
