NUP activists intensify push for Museveni’s arrest in rare independence visit to ICC headquarters

Ugandan pro-democracy activists pushing for the International Criminal Court (ICC) action against President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni over alleged human rights abuse on Monday, October 09, 2023 made a rare visit at the ICC headquarters in Hague, Netherlands.

Mr Nico Schoonderwoerd, the lead petitioner said they were at the Hague-based institution “in a renewed push” to exert more pressure on ” the Museveni dictatorship to scale down on maltreating Ugandans and also to seek justice for the victims of his 37-year-old repression.”

President Yoweri Museveni, and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba have been accused of sponsoring violence and abusing critics in a series of testimonies filed before the international criminal court early this year.

The submissions contained allegations of the torture of opposition figures and activists who report being arrested arbitrarily and being held incommunicado in “torture centres”, where they were reportedly interrogated about their links with the opposition figure Bobi Wine and subjected to physical harm and indignifying treatment.

Museveni, 79, has ruled Uganda since 1986, has been implicated due to his role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while Kainerugaba, 49, is accused of controlling the alleged torture centres.

“I was beaten badly on the face and every part of my body. They said to me: ‘Who are you to be against the president?,’” read one testimony given to lawyers by a Wine supporter, who reported having their toenails pierced with needles, being subjected to noise torture, having their teeth forcibly removed and being given electric shocks.

Safe for a few claimants like writer, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, most have shied away from being publicly named for fear of possible repression.

“It’s really hard when you try to raise your voice in Uganda to talk about what’s going on every day in our dear country,” one victim who signed the petition told the Guardian UK in July. He added that even speaking about issues like healthcare and the high cost of living can put one in danger. “I wasn’t even in politics, which makes me worried because it means that no single Ugandan is safe.”

Museveni’s deputy press secretary, Faruk Kirunda, also dismissed the claims against him, telling the NYT that the president’s political rivals were “peddling wrong information” at the international court to tarnish his image.

Afran was quoted by the Guardian saying “What we’ve seen is the complete loss of civil liberties and respect for human rights in Uganda in recent years under the Museveni regime. We are seeing hundreds of almost identical reports of abductions from the street and various forms of gross and abusive torture.”

These include having chemicals forced into people’s eyes, people being whipped with wires, and in some cases having testicles removed. “What we’re seeing is throughout the Ugandan governmental system, these forms of torture are being routinely used by anyone active in any way in the political opposition, even low-level figures,” he said.

Wine, a singer turned politician, was Museveni’s main challenger in the 2021 elections. Museveni claimed victory in the contested polls.

Schionderwoerd says there is a need for the ICC to expeditiously look into the allegations, adding that President Museveni’s government brutality against his subjects is growing to unbearable heights every other day.