Editors Guild alarmed over continued attack on journalists
This photo taken on December 27, 2020 shows NTV journalist Ali Mivule admitted at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital after he was hit by a teargas canister as security officers in Masaka dispersed Bobi Wine supporters. PHOTO/DERRICK WANDERA.
What you need to know:
- According to witnesses, it appears that in yesterday’s attacks, which left at least three journalists – Ashraf Kasirye, Ali Mivule and Daniel Lutaaya – in hospital with serious injuries, security agents deliberately targeted journalists.
The Uganda Editors’ Guild strongly condemn the violence meted out yesterday, December 27, 2020, by members of the Uganda Police Force and other security agents against journalists covering the ongoing general campaigns.
Despite repeated appeals to security agencies as well as law enforcement operatives to respect the right of journalists to work freely and accord them protection, we continue to see blatant attacks against journalists.
In fact, according to witnesses, it appears that in yesterday’s attacks, which left at least three journalists – Ashraf Kasirye, Ali Mivule and Daniel Lutaaya – in hospital with serious injuries, security agents deliberately targeted journalists.
We have arrived at a point where wearing a press jacket that clearly labels one as a journalist makes them less safe and more likely to be targeted for attack. This is unacceptable; journalism is not a crime.
We will continue to document collective attacks against journalists and the individual officers who carry them out and those with operational command. Attacks on journalists will not go unrecorded or unpunished. Impunity shall not be allowed to thrive.
While we are specifically concerned about the attacks against journalists, we are also gravely concerned by the unprecedented violence that has undermined this electoral season, and in which many non-journalists have been killed, injured, or been detained, sometimes without trial and for longer than is constitutionally allowed.
We are concerned that the country is, yet again, sliding down the slippery road of political violence and undoing all the efforts of constitutionalism and the rule of law that have been undertaken for many decades.
We are calling on Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola and the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen David Muhoozi, to rein in on the men and officers under their command, to publicly condemn the attacks on journalists, and to order a transparent and independent investigation into the violence involving security agencies.
We will continue to assess whether it is safe to continue sending out our journalists to cover these campaigns and other public and state events.
For more information, contact the Secretary, Sylvia Nnankya on [email protected]
