A university student in Uganda, Elson Tumwine, has been sentenced to two months in prison following his disappearance and subsequent arrest after posting a TikTok video critical of President Yoweri Museveni’s leadership.
Tumwine, a third-year student at Makerere University, vanished on 8 June, prompting widespread concern and allegations from opposition leaders and human rights activists that he had been abducted by military agents. His sudden disappearance sparked an urgent appeal from the university and drew attention to the growing risks faced by government critics.
In mid-July, Tumwine was reportedly dropped off at a police station in Entebbe. Authorities later charged him with offensive communication and computer misuse. He pleaded guilty in court, expressed remorse, and requested leniency. On Monday, a magistrate sentenced him to two months in jail, citing his admission and appeal for forgiveness.
The video in question allegedly mocked a parliamentary speaker’s response to President Museveni’s apology to the Baganda people Uganda’s largest ethnic group and the core of the Buganda kingdom. Prosecutors claimed Tumwine’s post was designed to “ridicule, demean, and incite hostility.” The 80 year old president’s relationship with the Buganda kingdom has long been fraught, despite its lack of formal political power.
At the time of his disappearance, Tumwine had been working as an agricultural intern in Hoima, western Uganda. Two weeks ago, David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary-general of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), claimed Tumwine and another individual had been secretly detained and subjected to torture before being left at the Entebbe police station on 13 July. Authorities have not responded to these allegations.
Human rights advocates have condemned the trial, raising concerns about freedom of expression ahead of Uganda’s upcoming elections. Lawyer and activist Godwin Toko criticized the proceedings, noting that Tumwine declined legal representation from opposition or activist groups. “This is the height of injustice,” Toko wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “A young man abducted, held incommunicado, pressured to plead guilty, and now burdened with a criminal record while those responsible walk free.”
Tumwine’s case is the latest in a series of prosecutions targeting online critics of the president. Last November, 21 year old Emmanuel Nabugodi received a 32 month sentence for allegedly insulting Museveni in a video. Earlier in the year, 24 year old Edward Awebwa was sentenced to six years for hate speech and spreading “malicious” content about the first family.
