Uganda: Arbitrary suspension and detention of student leaders

The Observatory has been informed of the ongoing harassment of 27 students at Kyambogo University in Kampala, Uganda, including Akiso Benjamin, the Guild President and a social justice and environmental activist and Kabuni Evelyne, Murozi Abel, Kiwumulo Paul, Winnie Nansenja, and Muguluma Wahab, student leaders defending student rights at the university.

On 23 April, 2025, student leaders at Kyambogo University in Kampala convened a general assembly to address issues affecting students, including late registration surcharges, missing marks, delayed release of results, and the request for students who had paid at least 70% of their tuition to be allowed to sit for end-of-semester exams.

During this assembly, police officers stormed the meeting and violently disrupted it by firing tear gas canisters and live bullets. Peaceful students were dispersed across the campus, and 20 of them were brutally arrested by armed police forces. As they were taken from Kyambogo University to Jinja Road Police Station in Kampala, some were subjected to torture by being forced under police trucks and kicked by officers.

On 24 April, ten of the 20 arrested students were released from the police station, while the remaining ten, including their leader, Akiso Benjamin, continued to be held in custody.

On 25 April, the ten students still detained were brought before a Grade One Magistrate at Nakawa – one of the five divisions of Kampala -, to be charged with three counts under the Penal Code : “incitement to violence” (article 51), “unlawful assembly” (articles 65-75), and “participating in a riot” (articles 65-75). They were subsequently remanded to Luzira Maximum Security Prison in Kampala, where several contracted illnesses. On 29 April, 2025, all ten students were granted cash bail set at UGX 100,000 each, despite their limited financial means as unemployed students.

On the same day, these ten students, along with seven other students, were suspended from the university for 30 days for “disrupting university activities”. Among the 17 suspended students, six are Guild leaders. The suspension, effective 29 April, prohibits them from accessing university premises, thereby preventing them from sitting for their examinations scheduled for 7 May. This disciplinary measure was imposed without affording the students a fair hearing before the University Council’s Welfare and Student Affairs Committee.

The Observatory strongly condemns the ongoing judicial and administrative harassment of students peacefully advocating for their rights, which appear to be aimed only at restricting their freedom of peaceful assembly guaranteed under article 29 (1) of the Constitution of Uganda. Persistent reports of peaceful assemblies continuing to be unduly prohibited and repressed, relying on disparate provisions, were outlined in 2023 in the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations on the second periodic report of Uganda, demonstrating a worrying trend.

The Observatory is also worried about the disproportionate use of force by police officers in response to peaceful assemblies. This concern echoes that of the UN Human Rights Committee which has raised alarm over reports of assemblies being frequently dispersed through disproportionate force. The United Nations Committee against Torture has already expressed in 2022 deep concerns that torture and ill-treatment were widespread and frequently practised in Uganda, and recommended the immediate suspension of suspected perpetrators from duty while investigations are carried out.

The Observatory urges the Ugandan authorities to immediately put an end to any act of harassment, at the judicial and administrative level, and any act of intimidation against peaceful students. The Observatory requests the authorities to drop all charges against the 20 students and quash their suspension without delay to ensure they are able to sit for their final examinations on 7 May.

The Observatory further calls on the Ugandan authorities to carry out immediate, thorough, and impartial investigations into the acts of torture and ill-treatment committed against the students who participated in the general assembly on 23 April, as well as those perpetrated against the 20 arrested students, and to bring the perpetrators to justice in accordance with international human rights standards.