Human Rights Watch (HRW) visited Uganda in April 2002, June and September 2003 and interviewed former and current prisoners including those who suffered torture, their relatives, attorneys, care givers, and a wide range of people with first-hand information about torture and ill treatment. Its findings are contained in a 76-page report entitled State of Pain:Torture in Uganda" released on March 29: A total of twenty prisoners and former prisoners were interviewed at length, and many more for less than an hour each. It was established that the majority of cases of torture reported to HRW concerned prisoners picked up for their actual or alleged political activities.

Many of the political cases concern supporters or alleged supporters of 2001 opposition presidential candidate Kizza Besigye, or members of the coalition that supported him known after the election as Reform Agenda

Others are alleged members of a rebel group some Besigye supporters are alleged to have formed called the People's Redemption Army (PRA).

Testimonies

Of the more than twenty victims of torture interviewed, six were allegedly connected to former presidential candidate Col. Kizza Besigye, now exiled in South Africa. 

One of the suspects, Patrick Mamenero, 25, arrested together with his father Mzee Denis Mamenero in Kabale on July 20, 2002 was tortured to death while in custody by officers of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). 

The duo is said to be relatives of exiled Col. Samson Mande, who reportedly leads the PRA based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

The report has testimonies of other six torture victims whose crime was to be associated with Dr. Kizza Besigye during the March 2001 presidential elections. 

One of them, Lawyer Mugisha Kafureeka, a PhD candidate, was arrested as he was leaving Makerere University on April 19, 2002, where he was a lecturer in an evening class. 

He was taken by the police, accompanied by fifteen other vehicles full of CMI and ISO agents and members of the police CID, to his residence, which was searched without a warrant and without his permission. 

They proceeded to the home of relatives and detained his young cousins found there.

Although officially held at the central police station (CPS) in Kampala, he was taken out on a daily basis to the headquarters of CMI to be questioned all day about his alleged activities with the Reform Agenda and with rebels believed to be associated with them. 

He denied everything. On the second day of his interrogation, he was whipped with a long cable (rubber outside, wire inside), which the CMI officials said was "imported from South Africa for torture." 

Not satisfied with his denials of "rebel" involvement, they hit him on the buttocks and he bled, then hit him on the bottoms of his feet, and kicked him in the back with their boots. 

After four days in detention, his family took legal action and his friends alerted the press.

He was then taken to CID to make a statement to the police, where he again denied everything. On the seventh day of captivity, he was taken to the Magistrates' Court and charged with treason and misprision of treason (failing to inform officials of anyone's intent to commit treason, or failing to try to prevent treason). 

From there, he was taken to Kigo Prison. Every two weeks he was brought back to the Magistrates' Court, where the prosecutor said, each time, "the investigation is still continuing," and the magistrate granted the request for another two-week postponement.


He was kept in Kigo Prison for a year on this basis. On the day he was released on bail in May 2003, he was rearrested outside the court building by CMI for further questioning, then released a few days later after being kept in a garage (with several other beaten prisoners) at Joint Anti-Terrorism Force (JATF). 

They were released together - after an admonishment by the head of JAFT and after CMI warned him not to try to take revenge.

The government denies that Kafureeka was tortured and maintains that he was a "recruiting coordinator for the PRA."

Apart from harassment of alleged Besigye supporters, the HRW report further documents testimonies from alleged followers of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Rashid Kawawa, 24, student from western Uganda studying in Kampala, was arrested on July 14, 2001. He was tortured using plastic canes about one and a half meters long. 

They tied him up kandoya style for four days without being untied, and suspended him in the air for one whole night, tied up kandoya style.

He was tortured for three months and then he admitted what they wanted him to say. He was brought to the Magistrates' Court on Buganda Road on October 3, 2001, and charged with treason and misprision, including belonging to the ADF rebel group. 

Later, the authorities added murder and terrorism to the charges. He applied for amnesty and was released in January 2004.

Other testimonies in the HRW report were provided by alleged members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Dr. Steven Wilson Mukama, 52, a pharmacist by profession was arrested after midnight at his residence near Kampala on September 2, 2002. He was tortured severely, in which his genitals were crushed. 

On September 15, he was taken to a police station and signed a statement under duress, fearing more torture. He was charged in a court martial the following day, despite the fact that he was a civilian. 

In February 2003, he was charged in a civilian court for plotting to overthrow the government and of forming a rebel group called the NDA. 

He recalled that during the 2001 presidential campaign, in which he had been active on behalf of Kizza Besigye, UPDF soldiers in civilian clothes harassed him and warned of the consequences he would face after the elections. 

The pain in his head persists, and he has severe headaches. His permanent disability is well known to other prisoners, who refer to it as an outstanding example of brutal treatment.

The report documents several other cases of torture including twenty-two alleged Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) collaborators in Gulu, several non-political cases especially those arrested by Operation Wembley operatives. 

It also highlights the plight of the twenty-two Ugandans arrested in Ituri, DRC alleged to be supporters of Col. Besigye's supposed PRA rebel group. 

Recommendations

Human Rights Watch makes seventeen recommendations to government to address the human rights situation in Uganda. Prominently, HRW wants government to investigate all allegations of torture and mistreatment and the perpetrators to be brought to justice. 

Government should also disband state security agencies that have not been created pursuant to an act of Parliament. 

HRW also proposes that the judiciary appoints judicial agents to visit without prior notice prisons, police stations, military garrisons and barracks and any other facility where persons are alleged to be held.

The Uganda medical profession and its relevant associations are advised to investigate the conduct of physicians providing death certificates in cases of prisoners who die in military hospitals. 

The donor community ought to closely monitor any military, police, security and anti-terrorism assistance to Uganda to ensure that human rights standards are strictly observed by security agencies.


The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights should visit Uganda and prepare a report on torture and ill treatment for their mandating bodies, with recommendations to the government of Uganda. 

(To read the full report, visit http://hrw.org/reports/2004/uganda0404/) 

Government responds

"I think this report is a disgrace. It is not the first time it is happening. Human Rights Watch seems to bring people who know nothing about the country. They stay here for a few days, talk to people who have a political story to sell, and take that information as it is. 

They should come in and talk to a wide cross section of human rights bodies that have investigated several human rights cases. 

Although safe houses exist in all countries, parliament here asked us to dismantle them and that has been done. HRW are portraying Uganda as a dark horrible place. This is not true. 

I served in the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) for nine years and know the human rights situation in Uganda. I therefore dismiss this report as trivial, biased, based on rumour and gossip they (HRW) could pick up. 

(Mr John Nagenda, Senior Presidential Advisor on Media and Public Relations).

"Uganda has a Constitution that among others entrenches a strict legal and administrative regime for the preservation and protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. 

There is an independent judiciary, which regularly exercises its powers including issuing writs of habeas corpus to grant freedom to suspects not presented to count in time. Uganda also has a permanent human rights commission with powers of a high court. 

There is a very free media, which is supporting the democratisation programme and human rights. 

As an advocate of the High Court majoring in human rights, in addition to my military intelligence duties, I am of the considered view that to get a comprehensive and unbiased picture of the human rights situation in Uganda, [Human Rights Watch] may consider establishing a minimum presence in Uganda or if this is not possible, a working relationship with independent and impartial groups. 

(Col. Noble Mayombo (MP), Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence). 

© 2004 The Monitor Publications

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