Wife of man detained for weeks seeks help

The wife of a man, who has been in detention at the Special Investigations Division (SID) since December last year on allegations of offensive communication, has pleaded for his release.

Ms Grace Atugonza, the wife of Mr Job Richard Matua, said her husband was rearrested on December 24 last year when he went to renew his police bond at SID in Kireka, a Kampala suburb.

In a letter to the director of Criminal Investigations, Ms Atugonza said her five children are suffering because her husband, who is the sole breadwinner,  is in detention.

“The purpose of this letter is to kindly request you to rescue my husband by either producing him in court so that we can work towards securing bail or grant him police bond as investigations continue or pardon him,” the letter reads in part.

It is alleged that Mr Matua made suspected offensive communication on social media in response to tweets made by the First Son in November last year. 

He was arrested by plain-clothed officers, who took him to the SID where he was detained for weeks until he got a police bond on December 13.

After his release, he went to social media and thanked those who helped him, an act that annoyed the security officers, according to his wife.

How he was rearrested
“When he returned to the SID to renew his police bond, he was rearrested for thanking people on social media. They told him that he had violated his bond condition. Since then, he has been detained at SID,” she said.

Mr Matua is among several people under detention or on police bond on allegations of annoying members of the first family on social media.
Efforts to get a comment from the spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Directorate, Mr Charles Twiine, on why they are still holding a suspect beyond the mandatory 48 hours were futile. 
He said he would get back to us, but had not  by press time.
Security agencies illegally detained novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija for more than two weeks without access to his lawyers and his family despite a court order.
Mr Rukirabashaija was yesterday presented in court and remanded.
In 2019, the Inspector General of Police,  Mr Martins Okoth Ochola, issued directives that officers must observe rights of suspects, including allowing them to access their relatives and lawyers as provided for in the Constitution.
Mr Ochola said any confession obtained through torture is inadmissible on court and, therefore, a waste of time.