he lawyer belonging to the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) political party, Abed Nasser Mudyobole, has gone missing.
Mudyobole, who was aspiring to be a Member of Parliament for Iganga Municipality on the NUP ticket, was allegedly abducted by heavily armed security operatives on Friday.
The Uganda Law Society Vice President, Anthony Asiimwe, said in a statement on Saturday that the Bar has inquired of the police about Mudyobole’s whereabouts but in vain.
“According to family sources, Advocate Mudyobole (inset) was forcibly disappeared by heavily armed, drone-operating security operatives yesterday, at about 5:00pm, from Gold Rock Hotel, Kyaliwajjala, Kira municipality, Wakiso district, where he had gone to meet a client,” Asiimwe’s statement reads in part.
Mudyobole’s disappearance is part of a wave of alleged abductions by security forces targeting members of the opposition to weaken and/or instill fear among the opposition supporters.
Enforced disappearances of opposition members and supporters, especially those that subscribe to the NUP, are currently a serious problem in many parts of Uganda.
Asiimwe said that political activists, human rights defenders, relatives of those already disappeared, key witnesses, and lawyers seem to be particular targets.
Many of the abducted persons who have been freed tell horrifying stories of torture inflicted on them by their captors.
Some of the NUP supporters who were allegedly abducted by security forces have never returned. The party says they died in torture chambers.
