Bobi fumes as NUP leaders Masaba, Mumbya are remanded

National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has condemned security agencies and the Judiciary for their alleged collaboration in secretly remanding his party supporters.

Faustine Masaba and Hussein Mumbya were on Wednesday sent to Bugungu Prison after what Bobi Wine described as clandestine court session conducted without legal representation.

The outcry from Bobi Wine follows weeks of uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts of Masaba and Mumbya after their disappearance from Mbale, with efforts to locate them proving fruitless.

NUP lawyers had filed for a habeas corpus, a legal order to produce the suspects dead or alive - order in an attempt to secure their release.

Expressing his dismay on social media, Bobi Wine said: "After several weeks of incommunicado detention and torture by the military, our comrades Faustine Masaba and Hussein Mumbya were yesterday sneaked into a court in Njeru town and charged in the absence of their lawyers and family."

"Apparently, these comrades - who did not know each other before - are being accused of jointly burning shops in Njeru! The criminal regime abducted them for political reasons but when our legal team applied for a habeas corpus order which was scheduled to be heard today, the regime rushed them to court which remanded them to Bugungu Prison."

Despite reports of severe torture, Masaba and Mumbya remain resolute in their commitment to the struggle for a better nation, as confirmed by Bobi Wine's welfare and human rights team.

This incident adds to the plight of over 50 NUP supporters currently incarcerated on political charges, many of whom were detained during and after the 2021 general elections.

It occurs amidst ongoing legal battles, with NUP persistently demanding the release of 18 missing supporters, initially acknowledged by the government as being in custody, but later disavowed, raising concerns over civil liberties in the country.