CMI admits Kawooya’s detention, blocks lawyer

Kampala. The Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence yesterday sent away lawyers representing Mr Yusuf Kawooya after they had made an appointment to see him at the CMI headquarters.
Mr Kenneth Kakande, the Democratic Party lawyer, who is also representing Mr Kawooya, confirmed the incident. He said they were denied access to see their client.

“We have been at CMI, we made an attempt to meet Kawooya, but we were unable to see him because the people who were there told us the officers who should have granted us the access to meet him were in a closed-door meeting,” Mr Kakande said.
He said CMI officials had confirmed that they were holding Mr Kawooya at their facility.

“They have confirmed keeping him and said the closed-door meeting is to decide whether to release him today or not,” he said.
Asked why the army would release a man they violently arrested without producing him in court, Mr Kakande said: “It is like the army is now concerned with the aspect of the manner in which he was arrested and their public image which has angered many Ugandans.”
Ms Sharifa Nakitende, Mr Kawooya’s sister, said: “We are still struggling and trying to secure him.”

By the time we went to press last night, family members and lawyers were still camped at CMI headquarters seeking Mr Kawooya’s freedom.
He was brutally arrested on Colville Street in the city centre last Thursday by soldiers in civilian clothes who hit him with gun butts and dragged him to a taxi with a fake number plate.

Registration details of taxi

His brutal arrest generated public outrage. The army arrested the tormentors and charged them at the military disciplinary court in Mbuya. They pleaded guilty and were sent to Makindye barracks awaiting sentencing.

The army unit disciplinary court on Saturday charged the implicated soldiers with brutal arrest and failure to follow standard operating procedure, an offence that carries lesser punishment compared to either torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which Mr Kawooya was subjected to at the time of arrest.

Army response
When asked why the suspects are only facing disciplinary court, instead of being prosecuted under regular courts for either torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the deputy army spokesperson, Lt Col Deo Akiiki, said: “The unit disciplinary court is the lower General Court Martial.” He refused to discuss the matter further.
On whereabouts of Mr Kawooya, Col Akiiki said the family knows the procedure if they want him produced in court.

“The rest I cannot comment. They know what to follow when you want someone produced in court,” he said.
The Prevention of Torture Act states that “A person who performs any act of torture as defined in section 3 commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for 15 years or to a fine of three hundred and sixty currency points or both.”

It also states that “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official or private capacity, which does not amount to torture as defined in section 2, is a criminal offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding seven years or a fine not exceeding one hundred and sixty eight currency points or both.”

Activists speak out

Human rights activists condemned the violent arrest, saying it shows how the regime has degenerated back to the olden dark days.
The executive director for Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Dr Livingstone Sewanyana, said Mr Kawooya’s case is a classic example that we are still struggling with a culture of impunity where holders of power abuse it.

“It is all about who holds the power and what he or she wants to use it for. This particular trend is not only alarming but demonstrates violation of individual liberties,” Dr Sewanyana said.
Uganda Human Rights Commission: The spokesperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission, Ms Florence Munyirwa, said the commission is engaging the security agencies to find out where Mr Kawooya is, why he was arrested and his condition.
“The UHRC chairman [Med Kaggwa] is in touch with the security agencies to trace Mr Yusuf Kawooya and also know his health condition. By tomorrow morning (Tuesday), there will be progress,” Ms Munyirwa said yesterday. She said they were taking Mr Kawooya’s matter seriously.

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