Sunday, April 27, 2008

Journalists arrested, Independent offices raided

PresOur offices at The Independent in Kamwokya, Kampala were again raided yesterday, and this time three journalists arrested -- Andrew Mwenda, Charles Bichachi, and John Njoroge. Andrew was literally kidnapped as he was leaving his house -- surrounded by five security operative vehicles, removed at gunpoint from his car, and handcuffed. All three were taken to police headquarters in Kibuli, Kampala and held for several hours. Meanwhile The Independent offices were raided and searched by a number of security operatives, and all phones of staff members were confiscated. Three computers were taken, as were flash drives and other documents suspected as "seditious" material. Andrew and the others have been charged with sedition and defamation, as a result of publishing two articles, one on Maj. Gen. Kazini and one on torture in Uganda as told by a former UPDF soldier. The following are national and international accounts of the event:

Daily Monitor

BBC

Reuters

1 comment:

cdbacker said...

Hey Melina!
I just stumbled onto your blog through your facebook page and i just want to say how awesome i think what you're doing is. I was poly sci and my main interest was Africa politically and economically although most of my knowledge comes from leisure reading and news. I truely envy you and the research and reporting you are currently doing. That is also really great about doing the Stanford PhD program. Congrats! Keep up the good work and please stay safe.
Chris Backer