Chaos at court as ‘drone’ abducts Besigye supporters
Plain-clothed security operatives seen running after arresting unidentified supporters of Dr. Kizza Besigye outside Nakawa Court on May 21, 2025. PHOTO | MONITOR
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Eyewitnesses said the attackers, disguised in suits and civilian wear, singled out individuals from the dispersing crowd, violently bundling them into the waiting van stationed just across the court
A dramatic scene unfolded outside Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, May 21, as armed men believed to be military officers driving in a white Toyota Hiace vehicle commonly known as “drone”, infamously linked to abductions, violently subdued two supporters of veteran opposition politician, Dr Kizza Besigye, and sped off with them leaving onlookers panic.
Moments after Besigye’s legal team, led by Kenyan senior lawyer and former Justice Minister Martha Karua and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, addressed journalists on the sudden adjournment of the treason trial of the four-time presidential contender and his co-accused to May 29 by Grade One Magistrate Jonathan Tiyo, plainclothes men stormed the court premises.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers, disguised in suits and civilian wear, singled out individuals from the dispersing crowd, violently bundling them into the waiting van stationed just across the court.
“They grabbed him like a criminal, but he had just come to support his leader,” cried a distressed witness as the vehicle sped off towards the nearby Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) where some opposition supporters say there are dungeons in which many of them have been detained and tortured for allegedly trying to oppose President Museveni’s four-decade rule.
Amid the chaos, a scuffle broke out. One of the operatives was punched by an enraged supporter before armed uniformed operatives attached to the notorious Joint Anti-Terrorism (JAT) unit arrived in a double-cabin pickup to escort the drone away. Some Counter Terrorism officers deployed at court were seen gave a futile chase as the abductors’ vanished in minutes.
Some elderly onlookers at court said they had never witnessed such incidents since the times of former president, the late Idi Amin’s regime (1971-1979), notorious for such broad-day abductions and brutality.
“It looks like Amin’s ghost has finally returned to haunt Mr Museveni’s government after all these years,” she remarked.
The Secretary General of a newly formed opposition party, Patriotic Front for Freedom (PFF), Mr Harold Kaija, identified one of the abductees as Umar Katongole, a councillor from Kira Division, in the neighbourhood of Kampala.
“He was arrested for allegedly confronting a suspected state agent who had infiltrated the court audience, taking photos of supporters,” Mr Kaija told reporters.
Sources say the courtroom had earlier been filled with tension when an unknown man was ejected for secretly photographing Besigye’s supporters from within the gallery. The crowd had labeled him a “state mercenary.”
Another source claimed Katongole and his colleague had been chanting defiant songs calling for the downfall of President Museveni, 80, and his son, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, 51, who has lately been boasting of “kidnapping Ugandans opposed to his father’s 40-year regime and torturing them in his basement.”
Human rights lawyer, Eron Kiiza who was recently released from prison where he was sent by the army court, condemned the arrests.
“Courts are meant to be sanctuaries of liberty, not scenes of abduction. Such acts deter citizens from seeking justice,” he said.
Enforced disappearances and use of “drones’ to abduct government critics has become disturbingly common, despite multiple court orders and public outcry demanding accountability and respect for human rights.
Government critics say the abductions are synonymous with Amin’s regime operations, which Mr Museveni, who shot his way to State House through a five-year guerrilla warfare, has been slamming after he, in 1986, promised “a fundamental change, and not mere change of guards.”
As the dust settles, the fear remains. Will the courts remain bastions of justice or become battlegrounds of intimidation after the Parliament of Uganda, under the leadership of Speaker Anita Annet Among, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, controversially passed a Bill sanctioning military trial of civilians, which many believe is intended to target dissenting voices.
