In May last year, Ugandans were left in shock on seeing the gruesome pictures of Geoffrey Byamukama, the Kamwenge mayor, who had been tortured by the Police over allegations that he had had a hand in the murder of slain former Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi. In the days that followed, more pictures of tortured inmates at the dreaded Nalufenya detention facility trended on social media. Ironically, many of them were later freed by courts due to inadequate evidence to pin the suspects. The facility was recently closed by the new IGP Ochola Okoth. However, Byamukama and others were not the fi rst and may not be the last, for torture remains the most recorded human rights violation in Uganda, with the Police accounting for a majority of the incidents. According to a Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) report released last year, a total of 1,658 torture cases were registered between 2012 and 2016.

Why suspects are tortured
According to the report, torture is used as an investigative technique to extract confessions and information from crie suspects in order to secure easy convictions. "Whereas there is a comprehensive legal regime that prevents and prohibits torture, this violation is still persistent and rampant," Katebalirwe Amooti, a commissioner at the UHRC, said. Moses Muhanga, a human rights activist, says torture is also used as a means of social control and political repression to oppress opposition politicians, journalists, human rights activists and other groups of people deemed unsupportive to the ruling party.

Report pins security
According to the 2017 report, torture was perpetrated by security agents responsible for upholding and enforcing the law. In the report, the Uganda Police Force alone had 1,016 torture complaints against it since 2012, while the Uganda People's Defence Forces followed closely with 275 cases. Some of the forms of torture captured in the report included physical and psychological suffering from beatings, rape and the pulling out of fi ngernails. Others include electric shocks, mock executions, pepper sprays, denial of food and the shame of being stripped naked in public. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY 

Effect the anti-torture law

By Owen Wagabaza

As Uganda commemorates the United Nations International Day In Support of Victims of Torture, human rights activists are calling for the implementation of the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Act, 2012.

Sam Nsubuga, the chief executive officer of African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, says torture is a criminal case that attracts penalties under the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Act, which law he says ought to be implemented to reduce cases of torture.

According to the law, a person who performs any act of torture, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for 15 years or to a fine of sh7.2m or both. Nsubuga, however, says often, offenders are let off the hook, while victims suffer lifelong humiliation and suffering as a result of torture.

He says the trial of officers engaged in acts of torture through the Professional Standards Unit of Police does not send a strong message against the vice. "We still have a challenge of the ineffectiveness of the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Act. Since 2012, we have not heard any conviction. There is not even a single Police officer serving time in Luzira in regard to crimes of torture.

Interestingly, thousands of cases of torture have been registered against the Police since 2012," Nsubuga explains. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY 

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