Gen Kayihura targeted in new sanctions by UK government
The United Kingdom government has imposed sanctions on several individuals including former Police chief Gen Kale Kayihura for reportedly engaging in human rights abuses and violation.
The abuses are said to have been done between 2005 and 2018 when Gen Kayihura served as police chief.
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“While Kayihura was in charge, he oversaw multiple units responsible for human rights violations including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment,” the statement by the UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly says in part.
Cleverly said that the sanctions that were imposed in coordination with international partners mark the international human rights day celebrated on Saturday, December, 9.
“It is our duty to promote free and open societies around the world. Today our sanctions go further to expose those behind the heinous violations of our most fundamental rights to account. We are committed to using every lever at our disposal to secure a future of freedom over fear,” Cleverly said.
The sanctions
According to the UK Foreign Secretary, as part of the sanctions, the former Inspector General of Police in Uganda will no longer be allowed to enter into UK, channel money through UK banks and profiting from their economy.
This means all property he has in UK(if any) will be seized by the UK government.
Background
This is the second government to impose sanctions against the former police chief of Uganda.
In 2019, the US government imposed similar sanctions against Gen Kayihura over alleged human rights violations.
The US government said then that he directly supervised the torture of suspects detained at the Police Special investigations facility in Jinja.
“As the IGP for the UPF, Kayihura led individuals from the UPF's Flying Squad Unit, which has engaged in the inhumane treatment of detainees at the Nalufenya Special Investigations Center (NSIC). Flying Squad Unit members reportedly used sticks and rifle butts to abuse NSIC detainees, and officers at NSIC are accused of having beaten one of the detainees with blunt instruments to the point that he lost consciousness. Detainees also reported that after being subjected to the abuse they were offered significant sums of money if they confessed to their involvement in a crime,” the US government said.
Gen Kayihura, the longest serving police chief was in 2018 sacked by President Museveni and later arrested to answer several charges related to failure to protect war materials, failure to supervise police officers and abetting kidnap.
He is still battling with the charges before the military court.
