Editor-DN
Geneva, Switzerland:
The United Nations rights chief on Thursday urged the Ugandan government to release opposition politician Keiza Besigye after his apparent abduction in Kenya, demanding an investigation into the “circumstances of his abduction”. go
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement that he was “shocked by the kidnapping of Ugandan opposition politician Keiza Besigye in Kenya on 16 November 2024 and his forced return to Uganda”.
“I urge the government to release him, and to ensure that any further action on the charges is fully in line with international human rights law,” Turk said.
“There should also be a thorough investigation into the circumstances of their abduction.”
He said Besigye, 68, a medical doctor and long-time critic of President Yoweri Museveni, was “held in indefinite detention” before appearing before a military court in Kampala on Wednesday.
Turk warned that the charges against him for illegal possession of firearms and security offenses “could attract the death penalty”.
His lawyer Arias Lukwago told AFP that Besigye appeared in court alongside another opposition figure, Haji Lotale Kamulgia, who was also kidnapped in Nairobi.
Lukwago said prosecutors alleged that he was in possession of two pistols and that he had sent them to Uganda, Greece and other countries with the aim of compromising the country’s national security. I requested logistical support.
Besigye, a retired army colonel, denied the charges and insisted he was now a civilian and should not be tried in a military tribunal.
He was sent to Luzira jail till December 2.
Once Museveni’s trusted personal physician, Besigye has been repeatedly targeted by the authorities since he broke with the president in the late 1990s and ran unsuccessfully against him in four elections.
His wife Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS, the United Nations’ HIV and AIDS program, first raised the alarm over X, saying her husband had been invited to a book launch by Kenyan opposition politician Martha Karwa in Nairobi. was kidnapped during
In fresh posts Thursday, he insisted he “hasn’t had a gun in the last 20 years” and should not be tried in a military court.
Turk highlighted that Besigye’s forced return to Uganda “follows the kidnapping of 36 other party members from Kenya in July who were later returned to Uganda and charged with terrorism”.
“Such abductions of Ugandan opposition leaders and supporters must be stopped, as must the widespread practice of prosecuting civilians in military courts in Uganda,” he said.
He pointed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s findings that “citizens tried in Ugandan military courts do not enjoy the same due process guarantees as civilian courts” and recommended that “Uganda without further delay , abolish the jurisdiction of military courts over civilians.”
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
