A outstanding Ugandan novelist and authorities critic has been arrested after armed males stormed his house and threatened to interrupt his legs, his lawyer says.
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, an outspoken critic of President Yoweri Museveni, gained plaudits for his 2020 satirical novel The Grasping Barbarian which describes high-level corruption in a fictional nation.
He has not too long ago stepped up criticism of Museveni’s son Muhoozi Kainerugaba – a common who many Ugandans imagine is positioning himself to take over from his 77-year-old father – calling him ‘overweight’ and a ‘curmudgeon’.
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been arrested after armed males stormed his house and threatened to interrupt his legs, his lawyer says
He criticised Museveni’s son Muhoozi Kainerugaba (pictured) – a common who many Ugandans imagine is positioning himself to take over from his 77-year-old father
Rukirabashaija’s lawyer Eron Kiiza stated he was on the phone to the creator on the time of the armed raid, saying: ‘I heard them threaten to interrupt his legs.’
It was not instantly clear who arrested the award-winning creator, who wrote on his Fb web page: ‘Males with weapons are breaking my door. They are saying they’re policemen however usually are not in uniform.’
There was no rapid remark from Ugandan police.
In accordance with Kiiza, witnesses noticed Rukirabashaija being bundled right into a van often known as a ‘drone’, which is related to abductions of presidency opponents in Uganda.
Rukirabashaija was chosen by the PEN Pinter Prize to win this yr’s Worldwide Author of Braveness award, which is offered yearly to a author who has been persecuted for talking out about their beliefs.
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is an outspoken critic of 77-year-old President Yoweri Museveni (pictured)
Witnesses noticed Rukirabashaija being bundled right into a van often known as a ‘drone’, which is related to abductions of presidency opponents in Uganda
Rukirabashaija has been repeatedly arrested after The Grasping Barbarian was revealed and stated he was tortured whereas being interrogated about his work by army intelligence.
At the moment, he was accused of breaching Covid-19 social distancing rules, inciting violence and selling sectarianism.
The author described his time in detention as ‘inhumane and degrading’ in his most up-to-date e book Banana Republic: The place Writing is Treasonous.
Earlier this month the US positioned sanctions on the top of Uganda’s army intelligence unit, Abel Kandiho, accusing him of ‘main interrogations of detained people’ focused for his or her political opinions.
Uganda has suffered a sequence of crackdowns geared toward stamping out dissent, with journalists attacked, legal professionals jailed, election screens prosecuted and opposition leaders violently muzzled.
The nation’s best-known rights lawyer, Nicholas Opiyo, who fled to the US this yr, criticised Rukirabashaija’s ‘violent illegal arrest’ and referred to as for his launch on Twitter.