Ugandan satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who was named International Writer of Courage by PEN last year, has been illegally detained and tortured for criticising the president and his son, his lawyer said.
Gunmen came to the writer’s house on 28 December after a series of tweets about the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, including one calling him a thief and his son and presumed successor “an incompetent pig-headed curmudgeon”.
In his last tweet Rukirabashaija said he was under house arrest and the men were entering by force. He has not been able to contact his lawyers since then, and no charges have been brought.
Read full Guardian article and open letter by PEN International.
Very disturbing but not unusual for Museveni, who has previously detained children as political prisoners. How thin-skinned do you need to be to torture someone for calling you a curmudgeon? Let's hope for a speedy release.
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