Ugandan novelist Kakwenza Rukirabasaija has revealed evidence to confirm that he was severely tortured while being detained by security operatives.
The writer and government critic was arrested and detained on December 28th last year after he made insulting comments on social media about President Museveni and Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
He was held for two weeks and later arraigned in court on January 11th where he was charged by Buganda Road Court Magistrate with two counts of Offensive Communication and remanded to Kitalya Prisons.
In the days that followed, his lawyers, having visited him in Prison revealed that their client had been severely tortured and needed urgent medical attention.
The claims however, were quickly dismissed by the Police’s Crime Intelligence Department as false.
But following is eventual release on bail last week on January 25th, Mr Kakwenza has decided to come out and reveal the extent of his ordeal in detention.
In a shocking video, the writer stripped naked to reveal copious scars speckled all over his back, his buttocks and thighs.
The scarring, apparently from severe whipping is also visible on both is hands, legs and feet.
This development comes just days after National Unity Platform mobilizer Samuel Masereka came out and accused security agents of torturing him inhumanely.
Masereka, who was helped to walk and sit to address journalists at NUP party headquarters in Kampala on Monday, had swollen feet with scary wounds, and healing scars on the back, stomach, and legs.
According to Masereka, he was abducted by armed men on December 7, 2021, and taken to Kasese Central Police Station from where he was blindfolded and driven to a place he said he later learnt was the headquarters of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence. (CMI) in Mbuya, Kampala.
He said he spent 21 days under detention after his arrest last year. Masereka gave a very vivid account of what he went through while in the hands of security.
“They caned me in every part of the body. Even the private parts, they don’t spare it. They punched me severally,” he recounted.
He said his tormentors repeatedly told him that no one would save him when he tried to question his prolonged detention.
The images of both torture victims have drown widespread criticism from both the opposition and some NRM supporters
Even key government officials decided to weigh in on the matter
Police’s Chief Political Commissar Assan Kasingye said “Any person who tortures another person should rot in hell.”
“I will continue to speak about violation of rights…. I have been going country wide telling officers not only to stop torture but also investigate it.”
However, Police spokesman Fred Enanga advised the victims to lodge complaints with the force or take their concerns to the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, rather than parading them in the media.
