Kampala, 22nd/
March/ 2012; Police in Kampala beat up journalists who were covering the arrest
of opposition politicians. A freelance photographer Edward Echwalu and Anatoli
Luswa a photographer for the private Eddoboozi newspaper were the victims of
the police brutality. Police also roughed up a Human Rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi
and blocked him from accessing his clients at the Central Police Station (CPS).
The police were
arresting opposition politicians including the Forum for Democratic Change
(FDC) leader Dr. Kizza Besigye, Kampala
woman member of parliament Nabbilah Naggayi, Lord mayor Erias Lukwago
and FDC women league leader Ingrid Turinawe among others. Police was stopping
them and their supporters from touring the city road network. In the resultant
chaos as police fired tear gas and some demonstrators retaliated by throwing
stones, an Assistant Inspector of Police John Bosco Ariong was critically
injured, bled profusely and later died of the head injuries while being rushed
to hospital, according to the deputy police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba.
Echwalu is a freelance
photojournalist who works for Reuters and The Observer –a private news publication
that comes out thrice a week. He told Human Rights Network for
Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) that four police men descended on him and
started beating him from behind in a scuffle that lasted for over a minute. He
was the first journalist to get to Kiira from where Besigye had been detained.
“I had just arrived at
Kiira road police station when I heard an order to chase me away. As I was
getting my camera from the bag, four policemen started beating me from behind.
Three of them were using batons while another used his gun butt. They were not
willing to look at my press identity card. They were scared away by the arrival
of opposition parliamentary members on the scene. The four were immediately
withdrawn from the quarter guard and taken behind, but I managed to take their
photos. They had no name tags or police identification numbers on their police
uniforms.” Echwalu told HRNJ-Uganda.
With the intervention
of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Uganda (FCAU) to which Echwalu is
a member, he was allowed to enter the police and report a case. He was bruised
on his right arm and shoulder and currently is experiencing grave pain on his
back and arm which he used to protect his camera.
In a separate incident,
Police officers beat Luswa on his back and right arm with sticks outside the
gate of Kampala's CPS. Luswa was the
first to arrive at the scene and there were no other reporters to cover the
incident at the time. He was beaten by two policemen in front of CPS gate as he
was taking photos of policemen beating up a man.
“I was photographing
policemen beating up a man outside the CPS. Two policemen grabbed me from
behind asking why I was taking photos. They started beating me up as I
introduced myself as a journalist and produced my press identity card but they continued
beating me as they tried to grab my camera which I successfully protected. They
beat me for about seven minutes until they saw a group of journalists arriving
and coming to my rescue. The policemen ran towards the CPS but I managed to get
their photos.” Luswa told HRNJ-Uganda.
He sustained bruises
and severe pain, and got treatment from a medical clinic in town.
In a related
development, a Kampala human rights advocate Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi was roughed
up at CPS and blocked from accessing his clients who had been arrested by
police. He told HRNJ-Uganda that his clients included Dr. Besigye, Erias
Lukwago, Nabbilah Naggayi, Ingrid Turinawe and the Kawempe division mayor
Mubarak Munyagwa Sserunga.
He said that despite
introducing himself as an advocate for the arrested persons, the police still
chased him away and he left without accessing his clients two hours later.
“I got there at around
03:40PM local time. I introduced myself as an advocate for the arrested persons
but they forcefully pushed me away. When I explained that the arrested persons
had a right to their lawyers, they replied that they had suspended the
Constitution which provides for that. They told me to wait outside until
05:00PM, which I did, but even then, they denied me entry until 05:30PM when I
left the place. They were many policemen armed with guns. They did not act
constitutionally.” Rwakafuuzi told HRNJ-Uganda.
“These are all very
serious incidents against the media and human rights activists. Worse still
they are happening at the hands of the police and security agencies that are
supposed to be their protectors. It clearly shows that the media space is
shrinking and sinking by the day especially for journalists covering activities
carried out by the opposition. We challenge the police to impartially
investigate these targeted attacks and bring the perpetrators to book. We also
call upon the Ugandan parliament to intervene in the matter to secure the working
environment for journalists” Said the Programme Coordinator Wokulira
Ssebaggala.
For
more Information contact:
Kivebulaya
Road – Mengo Kampala Opp. St. Marcelino Pre. School
P.O.BOX.
71314 Clock Tower Kampala
Tel:
+256-414-272934 / +256-414-667627
E-mail:
news@hrnjuganda.org
humanrajournalists@yahoo.co.uk
Website:
www.hrnjuganda.org
BLOG:
http://hrnjuganda.blogpost.com
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