Uganda: Novelist Accused of Insulting President Freed

An acclaimed satirist accused of voicing criticism levelled at the Ugandan president and his family has been released after running afoul of the local authorities.

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was dropped off at the entrance of his farmhouse in eastern Uganda by the army on Wednesday, 26 January.

The day before, his lawyer, Eron Kiiza, claimed that his client had been granted bail by a Kampala court, but was then taken away by armed kidnappers who took Rukirabashaija to presumably the headquarters of the country’s special forces near the southern city of Entebbe.

The 33-year-old award-winning novelist was previously arrested in late December for ‘offensive communication’, relating to a now-deleted series of harsh tweets on Twitter aimed at President Yoweri Museveni and his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba – calling the former an “election thief” and the latter “intellectually bankrupt”.

Before the court ruling, he was under house arrest and claims of torture have been swirling.

Now, the author is at a nearby hospital as his detainment left him unwell.

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