Journalists risk ten-year jail sentences under new anti-terrorist law
(RSF/IFEX) – On 21 March 2002, RSF urged the Ugandan government not to implement its new anti-terrorist law until clauses jailing journalists for up to ten years for “encouraging terrorism” are removed from the legislation. “This vague charge could be used against journalists who are deemed too critical of the authorities,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard […]
Journalism student killed by police during opposition demonstration
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an 18 January 2002 RSF press release: Journalism student killed by police during an opposition demonstration Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders – RSF) expresses its dismay and indignation following the death of a journalism student on January 12, 2002. The organization has asked the Ugandan authorities to carry out […]
Journalist burnt to death by unknown assailants
(NDIMA/IFEX) – The following is a 22 December 2001 NDIMA press release: Nairobi, December 22 2001 Attacked journalist dies, buried Ugandan journalist David Matovu, formerly working with Radio Uganda, died yesterday (December 21 2001) at Mulago Hospital, where he had been admitted after unknown attackers doused him with petrol and set him ablaze on the […]
Human Rights Watch concerned over proposed law that would limit civil society’s activities
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a Human Rights Watch press release: Uganda: Don’t Limit Space for Civil Society (New York, October 2, 2001) — The Ugandan Parliament should reject a proposed law threatening the legitimate activities of civil society, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today. The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Amendment Bill […]
Editors of independent daily “The Monitor” acquitted
(NDIMA/IFEX) – The following is a 6 March 2001 NDIMA press release: Nairobi, 6 March 2001 ‘Monitor’ editors acquitted – state fails to prove paper’s malice Three editors of Uganda’s independent daily ‘The Monitor’ were acquitted of sedition charges on March 6, 2001, after a Kampala court found them innocent. The two and a half […]
Journalists, editors harassed in election lead up marred by violence, intimidation
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a Human Rights Watch press release: Uganda’s Election Lead Up Marred by Violence, Intimidation Government permits arrests, attacks against the opposition (New York, March 5, 2001) — Serious human rights concerns in the lead-up to Uganda’s March 12 presidential elections shed doubt on whether the election will be free and […]
CPJ condemns ongoing prosecution of two radio journalists
In a 3 April 2000 letter to President Yoweri K. Museveni, CPJ condemned the ongoing prosecution of newscaster Frank Bagonza Kimoone and reporter Joseph Kasimbazi of the community radio station Voice of Tooro. On the evening of 16 February, military intelligence officers in Fortportal, a town in western Uganda, arrested Kimoone in connection with a […]
Editors arrested for publishing photo of sexual assault
(CPJ/IFEX) – At approximately 9:00 a.m. on 13 May 1999, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) police officers detained three journalists for the independent daily “The Monitor” – editor in chief Wafula Oguttu, editor Charles Onyango-Obbo, and news editor David Ouma Balikow – at the newspaper’s Kampala offices, and transported them to CID headquarters, also located in […]
Journalist arrested, interrogated, and released
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 19 December 1998, James Mujone, a journalist with the privately owned newspaper “New Vision”, was arrested in Mbarara and transported to Kampala. Police interrogated Mujone for two hours before releasing him on bail. The arrest is believed to be in connection with unspecified articles published in “New Vision” which authorities categorized as […]
Journalist arrested and charged with “promoting sectarianism”
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 17 December 1998, George Lugalambi, editor of the triweekly independent newspaper “The Crusader”, was arrested by police and detained overnight at the Kampala Central Police Station. The offices of the newspaper were also searched and documents were confiscated by officers who stated they were searching for seditious documents. “The Crusader” reporter Meddie […]
Journalist severely assaulted
(CPJ/IFEX) – At approximately midnight on 29 October 1998, Ogen Kevin Aliro, chief sub-editor of the Kampala independent daily newspaper “The Monitor”, sustained a compound fracture to the collar bone, a fractured shoulder blade, and injuries to his face, arms, and legs in an assault carried out by approximately six unidentified men near Aliro’s residence […]
Journalists charged with publishing false information
(NDIMA/IFEX) – Two journalists of the independent Ugandan daily, “The Monitor” appeared in a Kampala court on Friday 24 October 1997, charged with publishing false information. Editor Charles Onyango – Obbo and reporter Andrew Mwenda were jointly charged over an article published in the paper’s edition of 21 September headlined: “Kabila paid Uganda in Gold, […]