Uganda detains editors without charge

KAMPALA: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked the Ugandan authorities to immediately release the eight employees of the national newspaper Red Pepper who are being held in government detention without charge.

According to the press release by the CPJ, on November 21 Ugandan police arrested three editors, the chief executive officer and four senior managers from the Red Pepper publication after the authorities raided the newspaper’s office in Kampala on allegations that the paper had published a controversial story.

The Ugandan authorities have confirmed the report as being true, saying the newspaper editors and managers have not formally been charged, according to media reports and Uganda’s police spokesperson, Emilian Kayima. He said initial investigations were being carried out under section 37 of Uganda’s penal code that provides for sentences of up to seven years for people who published material “likely to disrupt public order and security”.

However, the police said they had not ruled out charging the detained editors and managers with other offences.

During the raid on Red Pepper’s offices, police confiscated employees’ phones and computers, according to a report from the privately owned Daily Monitor newspaper.

Red Pepper’s lawyer, Maxim Mutabingwa, said police had also searched the homes of some staff.

The arrests and raid came after Red Pepper published an article on November 20 which stated that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni was planning to overthrow Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. According to Reuters, the article cited unnamed sources.

In a statement published on Monday, the Ugandan Foreign Ministry accused Red Pepper of reproducing a “malicious article”.

According to Reuters, newspapers in Uganda have recently reported on tensions between Uganda and Rwanda.

“Uganda is trying to intimidate Red Pepper journalists and staff into silence with arrests and raids,” said CPJ Africa programme co-ordinator Angela Quintal from New York.

“Reporting on politics is not a crime.

“We call on the Ugandan authorities to immediately release the Red Pepper editors and managers.”

Kayima told CPJ that it was not clear when the arrested Red Pepper staff members would be charged.