Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda)

Delta TV journalist Isaac Kugonza was shot in the head by police on 16 November 2015. He is the third journalist to be shot while covering political events in Uganda in less than two months.

Daily Monitor correspondent Shamim Jjingo Nakawooy told HRNJ-Uganda that a parliamentary contestant slapped her and fondled her breasts after she asked him a question about his personal debt.

Enoch Matovu, a correspondent for NTV television, was reportedly shot in the head while covering an incident of vote rigging during the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party elections in the Mityana district.

Independent journalist Timothy Kalyegira Nyakahuuma has finally regained his freedom after five years of battling with a criminal defamation trial. Nevertheless, HRNJ-Uganda notes with concern a steady increase in trumped up criminal defamation charges against journalists who are most involved in critical and investigative journalism.

On 21 July 2015, three journalists were suspended over hosting opposition politician Kizza Besigye on Baba FM radio, without permission from the radio management.

A directive issued to all broadcasters by the Uganda Communications Commission attempts to restrict journalists’ ability to report freely on the upcoming presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections in Uganda.

Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda calls on police to thoroughly investigate the recent raid of their office, in which the group had laptops, a money safe box, project-related information, and cash stolen.

The Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda is the most recent casualty; over 15 Ugandan human rights organisations have been broken into under similar circumstances.