The police has rejected accusations that it is targeting FDC supporters and leaders for political reasons. Police spokesman Fred Enanga said, Monday evening, that police only arrests people who have broken one law or another.
"We do not go out to arrest people because they are NRM, FDC or DP; we only arrest those that have cases to answer. I really don't think that supporters or politicians are immune to the legal system of the country," Enanga told us by telephone.
Earlier on Monday, FDC deputy secretary general Harold Kaija told the media that scores of FDC supporters had been arrested and detained in various police stations without being produced in court. Other people are reportedly targeted for showing support to former FDC candidate Kizza Besigye, who is remanded in Luzira on treason charges.
"Our job is now to move to different stations and find out which FDC supporter is being detained there," Kaija said at the FDC headquarters at Najjanankumbi. "Many others who have not been arrested are on the run."
The party says those arrested are not allowed access to their lawyers and it has become difficult for family members to trace them. A few prominent ones who have been released are the ones that tip off officials on the presence of other supporters in detention over issues like wearing T-shirts with Besigye portraits or coming early for his court sessions.
However, Enanga insists that suspects are registered at their detention facility and access to them is granted to both their lawyers and families.
'When it comes to records, we have them, let FDC provide the names of the people they claim are arrested and we cross check," Enanga told us.
Kaija told journalists that these detentions, together with the arrests of soldiers around the country, may be a desperate move by the state to boost its treason case against Besigye.
Walid Lubega, the FDC youth league vice chairperson, said the police must take responsibility for the mysterious arrests because, while it denies them, it has not come out to explain who arrests opposition political activists.
A group of FDC youth activists who arrived towards the end of the regular press conference carried placards demanding the release of one of their colleagues reportedly held by police. They gave police chief Kale Kayihura a five-day ultimatum to release Kahemba Babi.
FDC says a new tactic used by security operatives is asking an acquaintance to call a victim and set an appointment. When the called person arrives, he/she is arrested and the caller is forced to switch off his/her phone.
Asked about this particular method of work, Enanga said it could be used by the police to nab people who have eluded arrest and ignored police summons.
Source