"I was Abducted & Tortured To Reveal The Whereabouts Of My Father" 16-year-old Shakuru.

Since 2021, it is on record in Uganda that  Hundreds of ordinary people suspected of supporting opposition politicians in Uganda have been snatched off the streets by security services in the worst wave of repression in the East African country for decades.

On the 10th of November, 2023, it was reported that a 16-year-old, Abdu Shakur, son to Mr. Hassan Khan Ntale, a resident of Ndejje in Makindye Ssabagabo in Kampala was abducted by unknown men driving in a  private number plate Van, commonly known as drone  at around 11pm.

"It was a torture chamber for me while in that Van, I used to hear of it in the news, I was beaten, toured, and asked the whereabouts of my father" - Abdu Shakur narrates. 

Shakur says he was late in the night handed off to new individuals who used different objects to squeeze his private parts. 

"Men in masks held my hands apart separated my legs and started squeezing my private parts while asking the whereabouts of my father"- Shakur.

On the 14th of November 2023, he was dropped at the readside in Kibuye,  Makindye division in a terrible state. 

According to his family, they claim that Shakur's father has missing for a while and the family is not aware of his whereabouts.

Missing:Hassan Khan Ntale

It was also disclosed that before disappearing, Shakur's father used to receive threats from unknown people.
It is on record that hundreds of families have come out to claim the disappearance of their relatives.

victims and relatives describe suffering as repression intensifies under Yoweri Museveni

Many Ugandans have  suffered systematic torture, detention in harsh conditions in often secret prisons, and the denial of access to relatives or lawyers. The abductions, which were described in detail to the publication by survivors and relatives of victims, have led the UK and the US to express concern through diplomatic channels.

Some victims appear to have done no more than vote for political parties seeking to topple Uganda’s veteran president, 76-year-old Yoweri Museveni.

Museveni has been in power for 35 years and has long been perceived as a key ally of Western powers in East Africa. 

The US and UK have given billions of dollars of development and security assistance to Uganda in recent years.

Some detainees have had joints or genitals beaten with wires, been burned with cigarettes, or had fingernails torn out. At least one has been confirmed as having died in custody, although the death toll is thought to be much higher.

Many of those abducted have suffered significant and potentially lasting physical and psychological harm.
Yuya Kamya, 53, was woken at 2 am on 22 December when armed men broke down the door to his home in Katoogo village, 32km east of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. With his hands tied and a hood placed over his head, Kamya was beaten and dragged to a van then driven through the night.

“We were pushed out of the van and taken inside … a detention facility,” said the musician. “They continued to torture me. I was hearing other people crying and pleading for mercy.”
Men beat Kamya with batons and wire on his ankle, elbow, knees, back, and testicles.

People hold placards demanding the release of missing relatives and friends in Kampala in February.

Other victims have been shot in the legs, had fingernails pulled out, and been burned with cigarettes, images and medical reports viewed by the this publication.
Kamya said: “It was a torture chamber. It was a nightmare. I was being whipped and tortured daily. I was becoming very weak.”

People in the dock at a court hearing in Kampala on 8 February.

The musician’s captors may have feared he was about to die and so decided to dump him. “They forcefully grabbed me in the middle of the night. I didn’t know where they were taking me. I [was sure] they were going to kill me and leave my body in some bush where my relatives couldn’t find it,” he said.
Kamya was dumped in woodland about 45km from his home, unable to stand because of injuries to his ankles. He was rescued by farmers in the morning. “I was in a lot of pain. My legs and hands were swollen. I was bleeding. I had wounds on ankles, back, and hands,” he said.

Now, Kamya cannot sleep or stand for more than a few minutes, suffers nightmares, and is terrified he will be re-arrested. His business has collapsed and he is unable to feed 15 dependants. “I am praying for justice to be done. I hope these people who tortured us will be arrested and charged in courts of law one day,” he said.

Prosecutors at the ICC are already reviewing a submission from the opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, the former reggae singer known as Bobi Wine, describing widespread human rights abuses in the runup to presidential polls held in January. Museveni claimed victory in the vote which was marred by allegations of fraud and the death of at least 50 people during protests. Most were shot by security forces.
Kyagulanyi’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party has listed more than 600 members and activists said to have been detained. NUP officials believe the true figure is likely to be more than a thousand. 

Some of those snatched from the streets have been sentenced after cursory hearings in the courts. Many are not brought to court at all.

“They used batons, wires, and gun barrels to torture us,” said Godfrey Ssegirinya, 36, an electrician from Kaula village in Gomba district, who was detained and assaulted by soldiers three days after the elections, after admitting he voted for Wine.
He said: “I became unconscious and fainted. When I regained consciousness, blood was coming from my eye and I couldn’t open it. I think they hit my left eye when I became unconscious. I am blind now.”
 
Many relatives of those abducted have no information about the fate of those taken, despite asking at police stations, prisons, and bases of Uganda’s feared military. They say suspects have been denied access to medical treatment and lawyers, as well as contact with their family members.

The unmarked vans used by security forces – known as “drones” – are sometimes visible on footage from traffic or other surveillance cameras close to the site of abductions.

Robert Kyagulanyi with a woman called Halima, whose husband was abducted in December, at a press conference in February. Kyagulanyi holds Halima’s one-month-old baby.

On 6 January, Immaculate Mary Blessing Onebe was forced into a van as she shopped for groceries in Munyonyo, an upmarket suburb of Kampala. The family of the 63-year-old businesswoman, who suffers from diabetes and arthritis, said she was not involved in politics.

Nakibuka traveled around dozens of prisons, offices, and military facilities, even those run by the feared special forces command. She also applied for a writ of habeas corpus.

“I appeal to the government to release [the boys]. They are innocent. They aren’t politicians. If they committed any offense, let them be produced in courts of law,” Nakibuka said. “If they are alive, we want to see them. If they are dead, let them give us the bodies and we will bury them.”
The UK government has urged the Ugandan government to meet its international human rights commitments. “The treatment of opposition candidates and their supporters since the elections is disturbing and does not create an open political landscape where democracy can flourish,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Last week the US announced visa restrictions on “those believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Uganda, including during the election in January and the campaign period”.