Military men flog journalists
By Our Correspondent
When Uganda journalists were beaten by military men as they cover hand over of a petition to UN
Uganda Military police beat up four journalists injuring them seriously as they covered hand over of a petition by National Unity Platform ( NUP) leader Hon Robert Kyagulanyi “alias” Bobi Wine to the United Nations Human Rights Office, at Kololo , Kampala.
NTV’s John Cliff Wamala, Irene Abalo of the Daily Monitor , Timothy Murungi ( New Vision newspaper) and Josephine Namakumbi (NBS TV), were beaten with batons and metallic objects. The four bled profusedly as colleagues tried to save their lives.
The scribes were clearly identifiable and were covering a petition by Hon Kyagulanyi in protest over continued human rights violations , including abductions of NUP members and other Ugandans, , detention without trial and killings.
The military in bid to stop coverage by the journalists , directed repression on the media which left several journalists seriously injured. Cliff Wamala, and others suffered deep cuts on their heads. Observer journalist Nicholas Bamulanzeki was beaten and his camera destroyed .
It is inconceivable how the military could have decided to attack scribes who were simply executing their duties.
This is a dark day for Uganda journalism and members of the media must uphold the hashtag ” Journalism is not a crime”. “Journalists’ lives matter”
Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) condemns in the strongest terms possible the barbaric and henious attacks on the journalists .
“,The attacks on the journalists is a violation of article 41 of the Uganda Constitution which guarantees the right to access to information . But more importantly the repression is also violation of article 29 which guarantees press freedom and other liberties hence gross violation of Human Rights.”, said UJU President Lucy Anyango Ekadu.
She said there is no way scribes will continue working under such conditions when they are beaten and their equipment damaged.
The UJU President called on all journalists who have been beaten and their equipment destroyed to open up cases against perpetrators of crimes against the media.
Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) is calling on partner organizations and scribes to consider imposing a complete blackout on covering all government events if their safety is not guaranteed.