Ugandan novelist Rukirabashaija released on bail, recovering from 'torture' after insulting tweet

Award-winning Ugandan novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is recovering from injuries his lawyer says he sustained over nearly a month in detention. Earlier this week he was bailed by the courts for insulting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s family, but his story did not end with Tuesday's bail hearing.

File photo of Ugandan novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, holding his award-winning book, "The Greedy Barbarian", which seemingly mirrors the President Yoweri Museveni regime. REUTERS - ABUBAKER LUBOWA

Before he could leave detention he was "kidnapped" and questioned again by unknown plain clothes men in Entebbe, says his lawyer, Eron Kiiza.

“He [believes he] was detained near Entebbe International Airport, because he could hear planes landing and taking off. That’s where the headquarters of SFC (Special Forces Command) is – [that is] the military unit for presidential security,” Kiiza tells RFI.

Rukirabashaija was dumped at his home in the country at 3:30am on Thursday, Kiiza adds.

“They were not hiding their SFC classification. Everything was [a] military operation and there was no civil institution in charge,” he adds.

Mukama katonda save this true African son. #KakwenzaRukira pic.twitter.com/BHyH8TJXX8

— Sòphòclès Ģilbèrt 🇺🇬🇺🇲🇩🇪 (@AGUTAGILBERT4) December 28, 2021

A satirical writer, Rukirabashaija published comments on Twitter late last year calling Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Museveni’s son, “pigheaded” and “plump”. Kainerugaba is also the head of Uganda’s Land forces.

“Verbally abusing the president is not a military affair; it is not a criminal thing...he was [addressing] issues of someone being a drunkard, someone being obese, someone speaking recklessly,” says Kiiza.

 “It’s really a civil matter."

'Writer of Courage'

The case has dominated the headlines in Uganda. 

Rukirabashaija was held and tortured last year after writing The Greedy Barbarian, a novel about high-level corruption, which earned him the PEN Pinter Prize for an International Writer of Courage award.

He has been arrested a couple of times before - in April and September 2020 - for the book, which is a satirical look at a country under a dictatorship strangely similar to that of the 26-year reign of Museveni.

Sarah Bireete, lawyer and executive director at the Center for Constitutional Governance, says the events around his detention are another example of the absence of rule of law in Uganda.

“It is a demonstration of high levels of impunity in our country,” says Bireete.

Scars of recent torture

The 33-year-old’s body shows visible scars of recent torture, as documented by the prison doctor. 

He shared his experiences while he was in detention with Ugandan parliament opposition leader Mathias Mpuuga, representing firebrand politician Bobbi Wine’s National Unity Platform party.

• Ugandan writer Rukirabashaija tortured over Museveni & son criticism: lawyer

• Ugandan writer arrested following criticism of Museveni and son

Mpuuga visited Rukirabashaija at Kitalya Mini-Max Prison. During the visit, Rukirabashaija outlined his ordeal to Mpuuga in the presence of prison guards.

“He told me about the weeks of torture in Entebbe, commanded by Mr. Museveni’s son, the commander of our land forces, General Muhoozi, and how he was blindfolded, beaten, [and] made to carry heavy objects,” says Mpuuga.

“He said they plucked at his skin using pliers, hit his nails, which caused the [bleeding] there. [He explained] how he was made to stand and dance throughout the night and day, and how they would inject him with substances...and was made to swallow drugs, apparently to treat his wounds. Despicable."

Mpuuga observed the blood under his fingernails during the visit, as well as his swollen ankles and his limp. Rukirabashaija reportedly has 63 torture scars.

The Uganda Human Rights Commission (HRC) also visited him in prison, confirming that he had fresh wounds in a tweet, which was later deleted, but published by Uganda’s Monitor and Daily Observer papers, says human rights activist Bireete.

“What  [made] the HRC to delete that tweet? It’s part of the impunity I’m talking about. We have total disregard for human values,” she says.

National and international appeals

Others, such as Ugandan public policy analyst Andrew Karamagi, appealed to the United States in a seven-page letter calling on government officials to freeze the assets of Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba - Museveni’s son - under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

Antidemocratic trends continue in #Africa this week with a coup in #BurkinaFaso and other #autocratic regimes, like in #Uganda, who continue to abuse their citizens, the justice system, political opposition, and critics like @KakwenzaRukira. https://t.co/FAXsMbpYEi

— Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member (@SenateForeign) January 27, 2022

He tells RFI that the head of Uganda’s land forces “stands out above most, if not all, the lieutenants of the regime, as the person who now wields the power over life and death in the figurative and real sense of those words.”

The letter, addressed to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee outlines the “spate of abductions, (mass) detentions without trial, maiming, torture, and killings of Ugandans under the command, direction, control, and encouragement of Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, commander of the Land Forces.”

 All point a smoking gun in the direction of Muhoozi, he says. "[Muhoozi] is responsible, and if he is not responsible, who is in charge of the lives and property of Ugandans?” pointing out that US tax dollars are going to the Museveni administration.

Meanwhile, if Karamagi has launched an international appeal to address the situation, opposition leader Mpuuga is using his power in the parliament to raise this at the highest level.

“My team has already put parliament on notice of a motion to investigate torture and the disappearance of citizens,” he says, referring not only to Rukirabashaija’s torture and disappearance, but also to others who have met a similar fate over the past two years in Uganda.

“People haven’t seen justice. This is going to become a big matter in parliament as we demand that something is done. This could be the [turning point] for Museveni and his people,” he adds.

Rukirabashaija is due to appear in court on 1 February to answer the charges against him. His lawyer, Kiiza, says that there is no guarantee he will be present because of the severity of his wounds.

“His health is our primary consideration,” he says.

Update 4/2/22: RFI contacted Uganda's Defence Ministry for a right of reply to this article. We are still waiting for a response.