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A Ugandan student has been detained for two months due to a social media message criticising the country’s president, police announced on Wednesday, raising concerns about freedom of expression as the upcoming elections approach next year.
President Yoweri Museveni aims to prolong his 40-year tenure in the eastern African nation during the elections scheduled for January, while rights organisations caution against escalating repression.
Elson Tumwine, a student studying agriculture, disappeared on June 8 in the western region of Hoima, where he was completing an internship. Amid public outrage regarding claims of his abduction, Tumwine appeared at a police station last week and was subsequently charged for a TikTok post.
His post featured a manipulated video that suggested Uganda’s parliament speaker Anita Among was accusing Museveni of various past misdeeds.
Tumwine accepted guilt for offensive communication during a court appearance in the central town of Entebbe and expressed remorse for the post, according to police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke.
The video “was aimed at mocking, belittling, and inciting animosity towards the president of Uganda and the speaker of parliament, Anita Among,” the police spokesperson stated.
Human rights attorney Kato Tumusiime said that Tumwine represents “one of the numerous victims of a diminishing media and free-speech environment in Uganda.”
In November, a Ugandan court convicted another TikToker over a clip that prosecutors said insulted Museveni.
