Calls grew on Thursday for Ugandan authorities to free opposition presidential challenger Bobi Wine from house arrest a week after the country’s longtime president won a sixth term in a disputed election.
A judge will rule next week on a petition by Wine’s attorneys seeking an end to the deployment of soldiers outside his property on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala. Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, says he has been detained there for eight days.
Authorities say Wine can only leave his home under military escort because his presence in public allegedly threatens public safety. They are preventing visitors, including the U.S. Ambassador, from seeing him.
While lawyers argued for Wine’s freedom, President Yoweri Museveni was making a triumphant return to Kampala from his country estate, with stopovers where he waved at cheering crowds.
The detention of Wine has angered his supporters, who see it as an extension of the harassment he faced from security forces who frequently broke up his campaign events, citing measures to control the spread of the coronavirus.