Uganda: Opposition Leader Reported Tortured by Police

(Kampala) – An opposition member of parliament was reportedly tortured after security forces arrested him for distributing food to constituents on April 19, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. Uganda should urgently investigate the claims by witnesses that Francis Zaake was tortured and hold those responsible to account.
On March 30, President Yoweri Museveni directed the police to arrest politicians who distribute food after he banned public and private transport, suspended non-essential services, and closed non-food markets to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The government said that food donations had to go through a government-organized task force.

"Police brutality is always prohibited, pandemic or no pandemic," said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch, "Uganda's authorities should urgently look into these allegations and hold those responsible to account."
While enforcing the government's Covid-19 measures, security forces have beaten, arbitrarily arrested, and shot civilians, including vendors, journalists, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that security forces, purportedly enforcing these measures, have harassed or assaulted at least six journalists since March 19.
Police arrested Zaake at his home in Mityana, about 70 kilometers north of Kampala, as he distributed food to people hard hit by the Covid-19 restrictions. The police held Zaake at the Special Investigations Unit in Kireka, Kampala, and initially denied his lawyers and family members access to him.

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