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Uganda police detain senior newspaper staff over Museveni article

Wednesday November 22 2017
Raid pic

Officers from the Counter Terrorism unit raid Red Pepper offices in Mukono District, Uganda on November 21, 2017. PHOTO | COURTESY

By CHARLES M. MPAGI

Uganda police is yet to prefer charges against senior staff of the Red Pepper, a leading daily tabloid, a day after arrest by officers who raided and cordoned off their office in Namanve, about 17km east of the capital.

The eight, who include editors and managers, are being held at the Nalufenya Police Detention Centre in Jinja, farther east of Kampala.

Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima said they are still carrying out investigations.

“The reason we went into this investigation is a story they ran on Monday,” Mr Kayima said.

He said the article headlined 'Museveni plotting to overthrow Kagame, Rwanda', infringed on the country's law and had "grave implications on national and regional security and stability.”

According to the Pepper’s lawyer, Mr Dickens Byamukama, the five directors and three editors were driven to Nalufenya at around midnight “after being detained at our office for close to eight hours. The police say they are going to drive them back to Kampala today [Wednesday], so we are still waiting on them.”

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During the Tuesday evening raid, the police confiscated all employees' mobile phones and computers, the lawyer said.

Staff have also been denied access to the office.

According to human rights groups, journalists in East Africa are forced to work under the heel of repressive regimes with ban on media outlets and a clampdown on reporters on the rise.

Relations between Rwanda and Uganda have been deteriorating, though Kigali and Kampala remain tight-lipped on what could be the thorny issues.

However reliable information obtained by The EastAfrican says Rwanda is rattled by several decisions made by Uganda, including arrests of senior police officers suspected of working with Rwandan authorities.

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- Additional reporting by Daily Monitor.

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