Uganda is gearing up for basic elections in January 2026 – the seventh since President Yoweri Museveni got here to energy in 1986. As within the lead-up to earlier polls, repression is on the rise. This time, nevertheless, it has prolonged past Uganda’s personal borders.
On November 16, 2024, opposition politician Kizza Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale had been kidnapped in Nairobi, Kenya. 4 days later, they resurfaced in Uganda’s capital Kampala arraigned in a navy court docket on safety fees. Rendered to Uganda, in clear violation of worldwide legal guidelines prohibiting extraordinary rendition and due course of, the 2 civilians confronted navy justice.
Outraged by this militarisation of justice, Besigye and Lutale attracted a 40-strong defence group led by Martha Karua, Kenya’s former minister of justice.
If the state antics had been meant to silence dissenting voices, they’ve accomplished simply the alternative. Removed from dissuading others from talking up, these trials have sparked a nationwide dialog on human rights and the position of the navy.
Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Basic Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Museveni’s son, has usually commented on Besigye’s case on X. Broadly seen as a possible successor to his ageing father, Kainerugaba heads a political stress group, the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), regardless of laws presently prohibiting serving navy officers from involvement in partisan politics.
Since 2016, Uganda’s Supreme Court docket had delayed ruling on a case, introduced by Michael Kabaziguruka, a former member of parliament, difficult the trial of civilians earlier than navy courts. Kabaziguruka, who was accused of treason, argued that his trial in a navy tribunal violated truthful trial rights. As a civilian, he contended he was not topic to navy regulation. Besigye and Lutale’s case gave renewed impetus to this.
On January 31, 2025, the Supreme Court docket dominated that attempting civilians in navy courts is unconstitutional, ordering that each one ongoing or pending felony trials involving civilians should instantly cease and be transferred to unusual courts.
Regardless of this ruling, President Museveni and his son have vowed to proceed utilizing navy courts in civilian trials. Besigye went on starvation strike for 10 days in protest towards delays in transferring his case to an unusual court docket. The case has now develop into a litmus take a look at for Uganda’s navy justice system forward of the 2026 elections.
Besigye and Lutale will not be the one opposition politicians to face navy justice. Tens of supporters of the Nationwide Unity Platform (NUP), led by Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly often known as Bobi Wine, have been convicted by navy courts for numerous offences. These embrace sporting NUP’s trademark purple berets and different celebration apparel that authorities claimed resembled navy uniforms, regardless of their distinct variations. Quite a few lesser-known political activists are dealing with fees in navy courts, too.
Over 1,000 civilians have been prosecuted in Uganda’s navy courts since 2002 for offences corresponding to homicide and armed theft.
For context, in 2005, the state amended the UPDF Act to create a authorized framework which allowed the navy to strive civilians in navy courts. It was no coincidence that these amendments occurred because the navy was attempting civilians arrested between 2001 and 2004, together with Kizza Besigye.
Army trials of civilians flout worldwide and regional requirements. They open prospects of a flurry of human rights violations, together with coerced confessions, opaque processes, unfair trials and executions.
Making an attempt civilians in navy courts violates Article 7 of the African Constitution on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the 2001 Rules and Tips on Honest Trial and Authorized Help in Africa. The African Fee on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the area’s premier human rights physique, has lengthy condemned their practice in Uganda.
Opposition to navy justice has not simply come from the standard quarters. Non secular leaders expressed concern about Besigye’s continued detention after the Supreme Court docket ruling, as did Anita Amongst, speaker of Uganda’s Parliament and member of the ruling Nationwide Resistance Motion (NRM), who remarked: “Injustice to anybody is injustice to everyone. At this time it’s occurring to Dr Besigye, tomorrow it is going to occur to any one in all us”.
Following the court docket order and widespread outcry, Besigye and Lutale had been transferred to a civilian court docket on February 21. Besigye referred to as off his starvation strike. They continue to be in detention, as does their lawyer. Nevertheless, their switch with out launch, in a course of begun by an illegality, stays flawed. Regardless of the switch of their case, scores of extra civilians have their circumstances nonetheless pending earlier than navy courts, with little hope that they are going to be transferred to civilian courts.
For that reason, 11 teams together with Amnesty Kenya, the Pan-African Attorneys Union, the Regulation Society of Kenya, the Kenya Human Rights Fee and Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) name for his or her quick launch.
As Uganda approaches elections, it’s evident that the navy courts at the moment are a instrument in President Museveni’s shed to be used to silence dissent. It’s time for Uganda to heed the Supreme Court docket ruling – for now although, navy justice is on trial, too.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
