The High Court in Kampala will today, Monday, January 10, 2022, start the hearing of an application in which novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s wife Eva Basiima wants the state to produce her husband dead or alive.
Security operatives arrested Rukirabashaija, 33, from his home in Kisaasi, Kampala for insulting President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni and his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba on Twitter. (Read report here).
He has remained in detention since December 28.
Security agencies have defied a court order to unconditionally release the novelist. The Solicitor General has since ordered Makindye Chief Magistrates Court to provide certified copy of proceedings that led to Nambatya’s orders.
Last week, Basiima filed an application for habeas corpus ad subjiciendum in the High Court.
Basiima wants court to compel respondents in the application — the commander of the elite Special Forces Command (SFC), the head of Criminal Investigations, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General — to produce Kakwenza dead or alive.
On January 07, a High Court registrar informed the parties in the application that hearing would happen today afternoon.
In part, the notice read: “Take note that this court will be moved on January 10, 2022, at 2:00 pm to hear an application for habeas corpus ad subjiciendum on behalf of Kakwenza.”
