House Arrest: Falana Comes to Bobi Wines' Rescue, Drags Ugandan President, Museveni To United Nations

 

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni who has ruled his country for over 30 years has been dragged to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN-WGAD) for placing his main opponent in the controversial election held in the country last week on house arrest.

 

Nigerian human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) dragged Museveni to the UN accusing him of illegally detaining his main opponent in the recently concluded presidential election, Bobi Wine.

 

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has raised the alarm consistently over harassment by security agencies since he decided to challenge Museveni in the election.

 

He was presidential candidate of the National Unity Platform (NUP) in the January 14 election which Museveni was announced by the country’s electoral body to have won.

 

According to results released by the electoral body, Museveni polled 5.85 million votes to defeat Wine who secured 3.48 million.

 

Wine, however, rejected the election results, saying he had evidence of widespread voting fraud.

Wine and his family have been put under house arrest by the government since the election.

 

In a petition filed on his behalf, Falana said Wine and his wife were being illegally held incommunicado without adequate provision for food.

 

He said the singer had also been denied access to his lawyers in a bid to prevent him from filing a petition against the declaration of Museveni as the winner of the highly flawed presidential election.

 

The petition read, “Mr. Wine and his wife are being illegally detained for days without any criminal charges preferred against him. He has also been denied adequate supply of food by hundreds of Uganda military forces and policemen who have laid siege to his house for the umpteenth time since election day.

 

Falana, therefore, asked the UN group to demand the unconditional release of Wine, his family and staff.

 

Wine tweeted on Tuesday that his family had been stuck with a baby for the days they had been under house arrest. 

 

He tweeted, “Day Six under house arrest and we're still stuck with an 18-month-old baby who had paid a visit to her auntie (my wife) before we were raided & besieged. The dad has been denied access to her. We have run out of food and milk. No one is allowed to leave or come into our compound.”

 

Wine had earlier told FRANCE 24 that his life and that of his wife were in danger as the government continued to keep them under house arrest.

 

Wine said troops raided the headquarters of his party, National Unity Platform, on Monday as staff tried to prepare a legal challenge to Museveni's declared victory in last week’s presidential election.

 

He said, “My wife and I are under house arrest. The military surrounded our house; more than 400 of them have surrounded our house. We are not allowed to leave; nobody is allowed to leave or to come in. We have run out of food. My wife was assaulted yesterday when she was trying to go to the garden to pick food.

 

Speaking about the atrocities being committed by the government, he said, “Just yesterday, four people were shot dead in a city called Masaka and they are keeping me and my wife under house arrest because they don’t want us to address the nation on the way forward, they don’t want us to talk to the press.”

 

Wine urged the Ugandan public to reject the results announced by the country’s electoral body, saying they did not reflect their wish.

 

He, however, vowed to challenge the actions of Museveni through “non-violent” and “legal” means.

 

Long-term leader, Museveni, was declared the ‘winner’ of the January 14 presidential election marred by allegations of massive rigging and intimidation of opposition members, securing 58.6 percent of the vote and a sixth term after 35 years in power.

 

Wine has rejected the results, describing the election as a sham.

 

On Monday, the UN Watch took to its Twitter account to allege that Museveni committed “widespread voter fraud” to win the just-concluded presidential election.

 

The group tackled the 76-year-old for shutting down the country’s Internet ahead of the election.

 

The post read, “Congratulations to Uganda President Yoweri Museveni on winning re-election after murdering, imprisoning and silencing opponents, shutting down the Internet, and committing widespread voter fraud."