In a press statement, PAWA Secretary-General, Dr. Wale Okediran, noted that this was the third time since 2020 that the Ugandan author, who is believed to have been arrested because of his criticism of the Ugandan government leadership, was arrested.
He said, “PAWA believes that the continued detention of the novelist without trial is a gross violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and demands an end to the travesty of justice and human rights.”
Rukirabashaija is best known for his satirical novel ‘The Greedy Barbarian’, which describes high-level corruption in a fictional country, and ‘Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous’, in which he recounts the torture he was subjected to while in detention in 2020.
He has recently been scathing about President Yoweri Museveni and his son Lt-Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba on Twitter.
He described the general as “obese” and said “the Musevenis have imposed enormous suffering on this country”.
His lawyer Eron Kiiza told the BBC that the author was being held by the police crime intelligence agency in a suburb of the capital, Kampala.
Mr Kiiza added that he has not been able to gain access to the author, and he had not yet been charged.
In his last Facebook post before he was taken away on Tuesday last week, Rukirabashaija wrote: “I’m under house arrest. Men with guns are breaking my door. They say they’re policemen but are not in uniform. I’ve locked myself inside.”
President Museveni, 77, has been in power in Uganda since 1986, and there has been long-standing speculation that he was grooming his son – a powerful figure in the military – to succeed him.
The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party has condemned Rukirabashaija’s arrest, urging that he be freed.
The author’s handle and the hashtag #FreeKakwenza are trending on Twitter in the East African nation.
