Kampala – Ugandan author and human rights activist, Norman Tumuhimbise, has been arrested ahead of his book launch, his lawyer said on Friday, the second writer to be detained by the authorities in recent months.
Tumuhimbise, who heads a local pressure group called The Alternative Movement, was due to launch “The Liars and Accomplices” on March 30, and has been promoting the book, which is critical of President Yoweri Museveni, in recent weeks.
“Tumuhimbise was arrested in a raid by armed security personnel while he attended a meeting with his colleagues at their offices last evening and their whereabouts (are) unknown”, his lawyer, Samuel Wanda, told AFP.
comrade Norman Tumuhimbise has been arrested and taken to unknown place by gun men & the digi talk studio being invaded in , properties destroyed and taken away and staff also in danger in the hands of NRA/M7. pic.twitter.com/u9i77xdsSP
— BROOK WILLIAMS (@williamkikomeko) March 10, 2022
The writer and nine colleagues were bundled into a van on Thursday evening, Wanda said, adding that several calls to the police or the army about the whereabouts of the ten men had failed to yield any answers.
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“We suspect the cause of arrest and detention is to do with the book he authored,” Wanda said.
Calls by AFP to the police and the army were not answered.
The news comes just over a month after award-winning Ugandan author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija fled into exile following his detention on charges of insulting President Museveni and his son.
Tumuhimbise Norman Mukose Arnold Anthony Faridah Bikobere Lilian Luwedde AMONG OTHERS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED BY MILITARY, Most probably the Reason must be these Two BOOKS : The KOMANYOKO Politics & UNSOWING THE MUSTARD SEED : pic.twitter.com/DgA4EcPXsk
— BROOK WILLIAMS (@williamkikomeko) March 10, 2022
Rukirabashaija arrived in Germany last month to seek medical treatment after being allegedly tortured in jail in a case that raised international concern, with the European Union and the United States calling for his release.
ALSO READ | Ugandan author who fled after ‘torture’ vows to return
The charges against Rukirabashaija relate to unflattering comments on Twitter about Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, and his powerful son Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
In one post, he described Kainerugaba, a general who many Ugandans believe is positioning himself to take over from his 77-year-old father, as “obese” and a “curmudgeon”.
Uganda has witnessed a series of crackdowns aimed at stamping out dissent, with journalists attacked, lawyers jailed, election monitors prosecuted and opposition leaders violently muzzled.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@williamkikomeko
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