Two Ugandan Journalists Arrested, Imprisoned For “Cyber-Stalking” President
Two Ugandan journalists, Norman Tumuhimbise, the executive director of Alternative Digitalk TV, and Farida Bikobere, a presenter for the channel, were detained along with nine other journalists following raids on several offices on March 10. The two were arrested on charges of “cyber-stalking” President Yoweri Museveni and “offensive communication.” Tumuhimbise was due to release a book that is highly critical of President Museveni on March 30th.
At a hearing on March 16, 2022, the journalists were remanded to Luzira Maximum Security Prison in Kampala until at least March 21st. According to Tumuhimbise’s lawyer, Eron Kiiza, the two were “tortured like the other journalists with whom they were arrested." Kiiza alleged that police also confiscated phones, laptops, recorders and cameras from the media outlet.
“These journalists were arrested en masse and held incommunicado without access to a lawyer for several days as if they were planning an attack,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Africa desk. “Because of a book critical of the president, you're treated like suspected terrorists. The prolonged detention of these two journalists, who are still in prison, is as serious as it is unjustified. We call for the charges to be dropped and for their immediate release.”
The situation for journalists in Uganda is hostile. Since November 2021, Reporters Without Borders have logged at least 40 attacks against journalists. Many of these attacks followed in the wake of Museveni’s election to a sixth term in office–a position he has held since 1986. Another journalist and author, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, fled Uganda in February to seek medical attention after being imprisoned and tortured for calling Museveni’s son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, “obese” and a “curmudgeon” in a series of comments on Twitter.
Museveni also threatened to “bankrupt” The Daily Monitor, in the spring of 2021 after they reported that much of Museveni’s inner circle received a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of health workers and other vulnerable populations. He has also called the newspaper “evil” as far back as 2018 in response to the paper’s criticism of Uganda’s growing debt.
Since 2015, Uganda has fallen 28 places on the World Press Freedom Index and now occupies the 125th spot out of 180 countries.
