{"id":41537,"date":"2026-08-04T18:06:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=41537"},"modified":"2026-08-04T18:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:06:55","slug":"hrw-calls-on-uganda-to-drop-charges-against-opposition-leader-kivumbi","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/hrw-calls-on-uganda-to-drop-charges-against-opposition-leader-kivumbi\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW calls on Uganda to drop charges against opposition leader Kivumbi \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Ugandan authorities to throw out criminal charges against opposition figure Muwanga Kivumbi and investigate claims that security forces abducted and tortured him while in custody.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kivumbi, a Deputy President of the main opposition National Unity Platform, was charged on July 29 with &#8220;inciting violence&#8221; and &#8220;managing an unlawful society.&#8221; The charges came after he was held incommunicado for 19 days, having been snatched by armed soldiers just days after being granted bail on separate political charges.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>HRW says the latest charges stem from a speech Kivumbi gave in Butambala, where he criticised General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Military Chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni, for dabbling in politics while serving in the armed forces. Appearing in court, Kivumbi described being blindfolded, locked in a small room, and severely beaten by security operatives.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>HRW Deputy Africa Director Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz accused the government of using the legal system to silence its critics, calling for an immediate end to arbitrary arrests and for the officers involved to be held accountable.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/HRW&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41538,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-41537","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"HRW calls for investigation into abduction of Ugandan opposition figure Muwanga Kivumbi","published_date":"2026-08-04 17:55:38","news_description":"HRW calls for investigation into abduction of Ugandan opposition figure Kivumbi","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41539,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41537\/revisions\/41539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}