Journalist Pidson Kareire, who was abducted, tortured, and then charged with defaming the former Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among, has been awarded 30million shillings by the High Court in Kampala. High Court judge, Simon Peter Kinobe, held that Kareire had provided convincing evidence to show that his human rights had been violated while he was in police custody.
“It is therefore my finding that the respondents’ denial of the medical care to the applicant from his personal doctor, denial of access to his family members, as well as his lawyers, were all violations of his right to personal liberty…A declaration that verbal and physical abuse as done by the agents of the 1st respondent in the course of duty is a contravention of the applicant’s freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to Article 24 and 44(a) of the Constitution of Uganda,” the judge ruled.
According to court records, Kareire, who works with Drone Media, an online Publication, was at home on November 4th 2021, before he received a call that somebody working with Red Pepper wanted to talk to him over an urgent matter of a news coverage he had been paid to coordinate.
He responded to the phone call from this unknown Journalist by going to Hotel Equatorial, from where he works, and called the unknown journalist, who then asked if he was the one in a purple shirt. He replied that he was the one. He was immediately abducted by men in plain clothes at around 11 am on that very day.
The men did not disclose what wrong he had committed, but they just forcefully and violently dumped him into a Toyota Harrier that sped away immediately after he had been forced into it. The vehicle contained about seven armed non-uniformed men. Throughout the journey, they kept on beating, slapping, and hitting him with the front part of the guns and asking him who he worked for and why he was spoiling the name of the then deputy speaker of Parliament, Anita Among.
He was later detained at Kireka Special Investigation Unit, where he would be taken during the day to CMI headquarters in Mbuya, where he also alleges to have been tortured. In his application, Kareire points out police officers Ernest Mpora, Aruho Aggrey, and Charles Atwiine as having been at the forefront of torturing him.
He was eventually presented at Buganda Road Court, where he was charged and remanded to Kitalya Prisons. Eventually, he was granted bail on December 13, 2021. After the dismissal of the case, Kareire, with the support of the Human Rights Network for Journalists, sued both the Attorney General and Ernest Mpora for the violation of his rights. Judge Kinobe said there was incontrovertible evidence that Kareire’s rights had been abused.
“Although the state agents deny any form of torture on their part, I find the evidence in this medical report credible, bearing in mind the period from the time of the torture on 4th November 2021 and the week thereafter, to the time the examination was conducted on 13th December 2021. The fact that the wounds were indicated to be one month and 9 days old rhymes with the dates the applicant was under detention and the dates he alleges the torture was inflicted on him. The deep healing wounds indicated in the medical report corroborate the testimony of the applicant that he was tortured, his body and nails pierced with sharp metallic objects,” Judge Kinobe ruled.
He added that while it is lawful to arrest any person who is reasonably believed to have committed an offence, their rights as suspects must be respected. He therefore ordered that Mpora, jointly with the Attorney General, who is the respondent in cases where the government has been sued, pay both the damages amounting to 30 million and the cost of the application-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
