Ugandan presidential challenger Bobi Wine and team arrested

Ugandan presidential challenger Bobi Wine and team arrested

by

“Bobi Wine and his entire campaign team stuck in Kalangala! Blocked media,” said the tweet.

No other details of his arrest were made available.

Wine is challenging current President Yoweri Museveni – who has been in power for more than 30 years – in the January 14 elections.
The presidential candidate accused Museveni of being a dictator responsible for human rights abuses, after at least 45 people were killed in protests last month caused by Wine’s previous arrest for violating coronavirus regulations at a campaign rally.

He said one of his bodyguards was run over and killed on Sunday by a military police truck, while the guard was taking a journalist to the hospital.

A Ugandan military spokesman denied that Wine’s bodyguard was the target.

In an interview with CNN earlier this month, Wine said he had almost been killed on two occasions in the past few weeks and urged the international community to hold the Ugandan government accountable before next month’s elections.

Although officials said the restrictions are necessary to stem the spread of Covid-19, opposition members and their supporters say they are an excuse to limit the campaign before the elections.

Bobi Wine, from Uganda, says his bodyguard was

United Nations human rights experts released a statement on Tuesday expressing serious concerns about violence ahead of Uganda’s presidential election. They urged the authorities to “end the arrest, detention and judicial harassment of political opponents, civil society leaders and human rights defenders”.

Nicholas Opiyo, a prominent human rights activist, was arrested along with four other individuals on December 23. He is accused of money laundering and will be tried accordingly, officials said.

“Since the publication of guidelines on conducting elections during Covid-19 in June by the Ugandan Electoral Commission, we have witnessed the gradual reduction of civic space and the misuse and abuse of health-related restrictions to contain dissent in the country before of the election on January 14, “said UN experts.

.Source