TASSC International Statement on the Abduction of Ugandan Human Rights Lawyer Nicholas Opiyo and Fellow Lawyers
WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TASSC International has learned that Ugandan human rights activist Nicholas Opiyo was abducted today, Dec. 22, 2020, in a restaurant, in the Kamwokya area (Uganda) with a group of other human rights lawyers - Dakasi Herbert, Odur Anthony, and Esomu Obure - by unidentified Ugandan security operatives. Mr. Opiyo is the respected Executive Director of Chapter Four, a civil liberties organization dedicated to supporting human rights and pro-democracy activism in Uganda. We are deeply troubled by this arrest and especially concerned that he is being held incommunicado at an unknown location where his safety may well be in serious jeopardy.
Mr. Opiyo and his colleagues have been actively investigating a series of mid-November murders by Ugandan security forces. As is all too often the case in Uganda, the Ugandan Police Force claims that Mr. Opiyo was taken into custody for investigation of fabricated charges that are a pretext for political persecution. He is being held without due process and any acceptable protection of the law.
This happens as Mr. Opiyo had also recently announced that he is going to appeal the Government of Uganda's decision to write to Google and Facebook asking to take down YouTube channels and Facebook pages of political opposition figures and human rights activists.
The situation in Uganda is getting out of control, as Uganda prepares for presidential elections in January 2021. More killings, illegal detention, beatings of normal Ugandan citizens as well as the assault on political space are being observed, at an alarming scale.
TASSC condemns this illegal abduction and calls upon Ugandan authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Opiyo and his colleagues, and stop infringing on Ugandan people's rights.
TASSC (Torture Abolition And Survivors Support Coalition) International is a nonprofit organization helping torture survivors from around the world and denouncing torture wherever it is practiced.
Léonce Byimana
Executive Director Of TASSC International
[email protected]
802 275 8904
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