Uganda: Arbitrary detention and torture of human rights defender Usaam Mukwaaya

Your Excellency,

I am deeply concerned following reports of the arbitrary detention and torture of Usaam Mukwaaya, a human rights defender working on issues of sexual health and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Uganda on 25 and 26 July 2008. I previously communicated with you on 11 June 2008 in relation to the detention of Usaam Mukwaaya, together with two other human rights defenders, during a peaceful protest at the HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting on 4 June 2008.

On the afternoon of 25 July 2008, Usaam Mukwaaya was stopped by a police patrol car and put in the patrol car by four police officers. Three of the police officers wore uniforms while one was in plain clothes. Usaam Mukwaaya was driven to a building and brought into a room where he was interrogated about the work of LGBT organisations in Uganda. Usaam Mukwaaya was cut on the hands and tortured with a machine that impedes breathing and causes severe pain through the application of extreme pressure to the body. On the morning of 26 July 2008, Usaam Mukwaaya was driven from the building and released. He subsequently boarded a motorbike taxi to the city centre where he was reunited with his colleagues. He was very weak, having sustained injuries, and was missing some of his clothing.

I believe that the arbitrary detention and torture of Usaam Mukwaaya is a direct result of his legitimate and non-violent work in the defence of human rights, in particular his work to promote protection against HIV/AIDS in the LGBT community in Uganda. I am concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Usaam Mukwaaya and all human rights defenders working in defence of the rights of the LGBT community in Uganda.

I urge the authorities in Uganda to:

1. Carry out an independent, thorough and impartial investigation into the arbitrary detention and torture of human rights defender Usaam Mukwaaya, with a view to identifying those parties responsible, publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice;

2. Take urgent and effective measures to ensure the security and the physical and psychological integrity of Usaam Mukwaaya;

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Uganda are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions.

I respectfully remind you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals.

I would particularly draw attention to Article 6 (c): “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters“, and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present declaration.”

Yours sincerely,