The Uganda Prison Services has dismissed media claims that Makerere University Research fellow, Dr Stella Nyanzi, has been rearrested.
High Court on Thursday freed her after being detained on grounds that she was illegally imprisoned.
It overturned the Buganda Road Court decision of convicting and sentencing her to 18 months in prison after she was convicted of cyber harassment contrary to sections 24(1) and 24(2) (a) of the Computer Misuse Act (2011). Nyanzi would later appeal against the conviction and sentence.
Judge Peter Adonyo who heard the appeal said that the lower court didn’t have the jurisdiction to convict Nyanzi of cyber harassment and that she and her lawyers weren’t allowed enough time to prepare their defence, something Court found to be unfair.
He this ordered for her immediate release.
However, Nyanzi later on picked by prison officers and outside the court and put into an awaiting van registration number UG 0172 U and drove her back to Luzira Prison.
This sparked suspicion from the public and a number of top leaders of the opposition political party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), that she had been rearrested. They used social media to express their claims.
But, speaking to SoftPower News, Frank Baine, the Spokesperson of the Uganda Police Services said that Nyanzi has not been rearrested but instead returned to Luzira to sign out.
“Nobody had rearrested Dr Nyanzi. She has been a convict with us until this morning when Court set her free. So, because she has been a convict and in our records we have her as a convict, she had to go back and sign out. In fact, as we are talking, she may already be out of the prisons premises,” Baine said.
