Protests erupted in Uganda's capital today after police blocked a pop star-turned-opposition lawmaker from leaving for the United States for treatment after alleged torture while in detention, while the government accused hospital workers of refusing to help police take his statement.
The actions by security forces have escalated a political dispute between the government of longtime President Yoweri Museveni and a youthful generation that fears he intends to rule for life after 32 years in power.
Bobi Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, was stopped yesterday night while trying to board a flight at the Entebbe airport, lawyer Asuman Basalirwa told The Associated Press. He was checked into a hospital in the capital, Kampala, in a "worrying condition," the lawyer said.
The 36-year-old was freed on bail on Monday but faced no travel restrictions after he and several other lawmakers were charged with treason over an incident in which the president's motorcade was pelted with stones and Ssentamu's driver was shot dead.
A lawyer for the singer has called the charge false.
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Ssentamu has emerged as a powerful opposition voice among youth frustrated by Museveni, especially after the constitution was changed last year to remove an age limit on the presidency. The singer won a parliament seat last year without the backing of a political party.
Dozens of global musicians including Chris Martin, Angelique Kidjo and Brian Eno last week issued an open letter condemning the treatment of Ssentamu, who in his first public appearance after his arrest had to walk with support and appeared to cry.
Yesterday, police "violently abducted" Ssentamu and put him into a police ambulance, another lawyer, Nicholas Opiyo, said on Twitter. Ssentamu's wife, Barbara, said in a Facebook post that her husband "groaned in pain" as he shouted for help.
Authorities earlier yesterday stopped another lawmaker, Francis Zaake, from boarding a plane to India. Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said Zaake, who has not been charged, escaped police custody "and should be arrested at the earliest."
Opondo today said Ssentamu couldn't travel abroad without court authorisation.
"What if he goes and doesn't come back yet there are pending charges against him?" he asked in comments tweeted by the government's press office.
He also said a medical exam was needed because the lawmakers had alleged torture but hospital officials were refusing to cooperate with police.
Ssentamu and Zaake were resisting efforts by government-provided medical personnel to examine them, according to local rights group Chapter Four Uganda.
"They are just here languishing in the hospital here where they were dumped," lawyer Erias Lukwago said.
"All we see are plainclothes security operatives all over. ... they are the ones in charge of the ward where he is now restrained."
Both lawmakers earlier had been hospitalised with serious injuries they said they sustained at the hands of security forces during detention.
The government has denied the allegations.
The treason charges have heightened concerns about a crackdown on the opposition in this East African nation.
"If a member of parliament can be treated like that, what of me who is on the street now?" asked one Kampala resident, Charles Ssenyange.
Security forces today deployed heavily in Kampala's Kamwokya neighbourhood as police spokesman Emilian Kayima noted "some young men who wanted to cause commotion."
The 74-year-old Museveni, a close US security ally, has held power since 1986.
He has spoken in recent days about "unprincipled politicians taking advantage of our unemployed youth to lure them into riots and demonstrations.
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