The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Ugandan authorities to investigate the recent assault of journalist Juliet Kyarisiima. Kyarisiima was attacked while providing coverage on a public meeting regarding a land dispute. The CPJ insists that those responsible need to be penalised to prevent public event correspondents from becoming regular victims of violence.
After the closure of the aforementioned land dispute meeting, according to the CPJ, a band of armed men made their entrance and began to torment the attendees. Kyarisiima was demanded to surrender her camera, laptop, and money. Subsequent to the encounter, she reported being physically assaulted. The incident, however, was registered by the police as a “simple robbery.”
According to Muthoki Mumo, CPJ Africa Program coordinator, assaults on Ugandan journalists are far from infrequent, with culprits seldom facing punishment. The CPJ has chronicled numerous attacks on journalists, which includes the disturbance of seven journalists at news conferences in the previous year and the theft and assault of journalists reporting on local elections.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that journalists in Uganda face threats and violence virtually on a daily basis, primarily from the country’s security services. Those who oppose the Ugandan authorities or critique the country’s human rights record often find themselves subjected to violence, abduction, arrest, and confiscation of equipment.
The police in Uganda’s Buhweju District pledged to the CPJ that they would thoroughly investigate the case of the assault and robbery of Kyarisiima and proceed with the necessary arrests.
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