Military Seizing Government Critics: Targeting Opposition Figures, Journalists; Violating Fundamental Rights

Military forces in an East African country are arbitrarily seizing government critics, holding them incommunicado, then handing them over for bogus prosecutions, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, June 16, 2026.

These actions are an apparent effort to silence and curtail all opposition and independent media in Uganda.

Since mid‑June 2026, security forces have unlawfully seized at least five critics of President Yoweri Museveni and his son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF). The army has also raided and laid siege to the country’s largest independent media company, forcing it to cease operations because of negative coverage of the president.

“President Museveni’s government is increasingly using the military as a cudgel against dissent and criticism,” said Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “They should stop using security forces to take out critics and instead respect Uganda’s Constitution and Ugandans’ rights, security, and due process.”

On June 15, armed soldiers raided the home of lawyer Erias Lukwago in Kampala, the capital. They unlawfully seized him and took him to an undisclosed location. Lukwago, who represents opposition politician Kizza Besigye in a bogus treason trial, had been preparing to serve a legal summons on Kainerugaba that day as part of a lawsuit. Kainerugaba had threatened to arrest Lukwago and “whoever serves” a legal summons against him.

Kainerugaba, in a series of posts on X, appeared to confirm that he was unlawfully holding Lukwago, boasting that he had him in a “basement” and sharing a photograph of what appeared to be Lukwago blindfolded. Lukwago’s son said his father was beaten while Kainerugaba held him incommunicado for two days.

At about 11 a.m. on June 17, security officers took Lukwago to a police station on the outskirts of Kampala. Authorities then charged him with treason‑related offenses linked to Besigye’s case and sent him to pretrial detention. On June 22, authorities detained Martha Karua, a Kenyan lawyer and former Minister for Justice, who is the lead counsel in Besigye’s defense, upon her arrival at Entebbe International Airport after she traveled to Uganda to observe Lukwago’s court proceedings. Authorities deported her to Kenya several hours later.

In another case, human rights lawyer Kato Tumusiime said soldiers detained his client, Miria Matembe — a prominent activist and government critic — in Kampala on June 28, held her in an unknown detention facility for two days, then took her to a police station. She was charged with “promoting sectarianism,” an offense used to target people perceived as critical of the government, and released on bail the next day.

Kainerugaba also claimed responsibility for Matembe’s unlawful detention, writing in a June 28 post on X that “that one, [Matembe] I have her too.”

Tumusiime said Matembe’s treatment appeared linked to a YouTube interview two days earlier in which she criticized Kainerugaba for detaining Lukwago.

Prominent government critic and journalist Timothy Kalyegira wrote on X that on June 26 he had been “arrested and driven in a [UPDF Special Forces Command vehicle] to a basement. Reason? ‘Why do you hate the First Family?’” Three days later, authorities charged him with operating digital news outlets without a license and released him on bail.

On July 11, a group of armed soldiers — some in uniform, others in civilian clothes — seized Muwanga Kivumbi, deputy president of Uganda’s main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), as he approached a roadblock on the outskirts of Kampala. Kivumbi is free on bail awaiting trial on politically motivated terrorism‑related charges.

Another opposition supporter, Andrew Nabimanya, said that on June 17 soldiers took him from a restaurant in Kampala to an unknown location. They detained him for five days, undressed him, took pictures of him, drew two syringes of blood from him, and warned him not to post “anti‑government” material online. On June 22, they took him to a police station, where he was charged with “unauthorized disclosure of official information and unlawful disclosure or obtaining of personal data” and released on police bond.

These unlawful detentions appear to be part of a wider government campaign to shut down free expression and peaceful assembly. Since June 28, the military has surrounded and laid siege to the premises of Nation Media Group, Uganda’s largest independent media company, after Kainerugaba ordered the shutdown of its television and newspaper operations.

Since January 12, the government has indefinitely suspended at least 10 nongovernmental organizations, including human rights groups, media organizations, and election‑monitoring bodies.

In May, Museveni signed into law the Protection of Sovereignty Act, which imposes sweeping controls on “foreign funding” and can be used to further curtail civil society by targeting people deemed to be “agents” of foreign entities or promoting “the interests of foreigners.”

Ugandan law allows UPDF soldiers to arrest civilians only for offenses explicitly provided for under the Uganda People’s Defence Force Act. None of the recent arrests involve such offenses. Uganda’s Constitution mandates holding detainees only in places authorized by law.

Uganda is a party to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

As such, Uganda has strict obligations to respect guarantees of liberty and security, due process, prohibitions on arbitrary arrests, and more egregious violations such as enforced disappearances — unacknowledged detention or concealment of the whereabouts or status of detainees — and ill‑treatment. It must also respect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, association, and assembly. This includes not weaponizing the criminal justice system by bringing unfounded, politically motivated prosecutions against opponents and critics.

Human Rights Watch has documented that Uganda’s security forces have for many years carried out enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, and torture. In 2022, President Museveni pledged to send a strong message to Uganda’s security agencies that unlawful detention is unacceptable and to ensure that security officials responsible for abuses would be prosecuted. There is no public evidence of any such accountability processes.

Authorities should immediately end their crackdown on independent media and nongovernmental organizations, Human Rights Watch said. They should also hold all those who have committed human rights violations to account, using laws such as the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act of 2012 and the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act of 2019, which criminalize torture and create a basis for holding public officers liable.

“No military officer should be able to carry out serious violations with impunity,” Kaneza Nantulya said. “Uganda’s partners should urgently press President Museveni’s government to end these abuses, uphold the rule of law, and ensure accountability for those responsible.”