Kampala, Uganda – Praise Aloikin Opoloje walks into the visitors’ waiting room at Luzira Women’s Prison wearing an oversized yellow-and-black striped dress and a broad smile.
Detained since September 26, 2026, she was charged with the alleged unlawful use of a SIM card registered in her mother’s name. Her case has drawn attention to the risks faced by Ugandans who use social media to criticise powerful political and military figures.
Opoloje appeared before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court on September 28, charged with using another person’s SIM card to carry out illegal activity.
She denied the charge under Regulation 29 of Uganda’s 2024 Regulation of Interception of Communications Regulations.
Opoloje says her detention followed a video in which she declared that she was not afraid of General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s military chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni.
A video, an arrest and an alleged threat
Opoloje says she was lured to a Kampala police station by a false accusation that she had stolen a carpet. She alleges that six men then forced her into a Toyota HiAce van, locally known as a “drone”.
“We are going to show you what we do to people who insult our president,” one of the men allegedly told her.
She says the men beat her, threatened to rape her and drove towards Entebbe. She feared they were taking her somewhere she might be tortured. According to Opoloje, a phone call prompted the men to turn back towards Kampala Central Police Station.
Her account of the alleged abduction and mistreatment could not be independently verified.
Asked whether she would cease speaking out, Opoloje said, “Me? Never. In fact, when I get out, if I do, I will start from where I stopped. I cannot keep quiet seeing what is going on in the country.”
Opoloje says she feared being taken to a basement where, she believes, people are tortured and raped. “Being in here in prison is better than being in the basement that they were taking me to,” she says.
Since Al Jazeera’s interview with her, Opoloje was granted bail on October 14, with court permission required before travelling internationally.
She also alleges that men have threatened her mother, telling her they knew where she lived. Opoloje says her detention has affected her family, including her three-year-old daughter.
“I don’t think my mother or my three-year-old daughter should pay the price for my actions,” she says.
A father searches for his missing son
For Emmanuel Baliza, 59, the uncertainty is different: he says he does not know where his 17-year-old son, William, is being held.
Emmanuel says armed men took William from their home after the teenager expressed an intention to protest against police brutality and Uganda’s education system.
According to Emmanuel, a stranger first lured him away using a pretext involving land. He says about six men wearing military uniforms and face coverings were waiting in a Toyota HiAce van and searched his phone.
“I told them, that’s my son, 17-year-old William Baliza,” Emmanuel says.
He alleges that the men took William, claiming they were arresting him for planning to protest after the elections. They reportedly told Emmanuel they were taking his son to the Special Investigations Unit, which handles serious and high-profile crimes, but did not provide a reference number.
Emmanuel says he later heard that William might be held at a military detention facility in Kasenyi near Entebbe. He says officials denied holding his son, leaving the family without confirmation of his whereabouts.
According to Emmanuel, his daughter told him William had posted a message on TikTok reading: “Uganda is bleeding.”
Reporting on the powerful, facing the consequences
Journalist and human rights activist Andrew Tabandama Natumanya says his reporting on a security operation involving properties linked to former Parliament Speaker Anita Among brought scrutiny from security personnel.
In May, officers searched properties linked to Among amid investigations into allegations including corruption and money laundering. Media reports said luxury vehicles, including a 2025 Rolls-Royce Cullinan, were seized.
Andrew says he posted real-time updates about the operation on X, formerly Twitter. He believes the attention his reporting attracted stemmed partly from questions about how he obtained information from within security agencies.
“Their main discomfort was, ‘How is he getting this information? How is he aware of what is happening at the Criminal Investigations Department? Who is giving me these updates?’” he says.
Andrew alleges that on June 17, 2026, a stranger lured him to a washing bay, where armed personnel forced him into a van.
He says he was taken away, assaulted and humiliated. According to Andrew, officers placed his head beneath one officer’s feet before stripping him naked and photographing him.
“Not even a pair of socks was on my body,” he says.
He further alleges that officers warned him against continuing to publish his updates online.
“You keep posting what you post, you will also see these things on the internet,” he recalls them saying.
Andrew says he was detained for five days before being released on bail. He also alleges that the experience had consequences for his family, including threats and difficulties affecting their businesses and employment prospects.
“Some of them are slowly but surely turning into unemployable citizens, and some of their businesses are being crippled down,” he says.
Despite what he describes as intimidation, Andrew says he will continue reporting.
“I will not delete my (posts). I will change tactics, but continue stating facts.”
“We want to see a free Uganda,” he adds.
Among was placed under house arrest, but was later ordered released by President Yoweri Museveni, and the state decided not to pursue charges.
Andrew’s account of abuse and harassment has not been independently verified.
When online speech becomes a legal battle
Steven Atukwatse, a lawyer with the Agora Research Center, a human rights organisation, says he has represented social media users charged under Uganda’s Computer Misuse Act, many of them TikTok and X users.
“Most are arrested for either criticising Museveni or his son, Muhoozi,” he says.
Atukwatse says he personally has handled 12 such cases since November 2025.
He describes cases in which families struggle to establish where relatives are being held.
“They disappear, then a few months later they are dumped at police stations,” he says.
When families ask authorities about missing relatives, he says, they are often told: “We do not have the person.”
Atukwatse says the imbalance between the evidence available to prosecutors and that available to defence lawyers can make allegations of mistreatment difficult to pursue.
“While the state can provide evidence of a post on social media, as lawyers, we cannot provide substantial evidence of how a client was abducted or tortured,” he says.
He also says that sometimes people are released, but the state leaves the charges hanging over them.
“Later on, the state loses interest, but there’s no formal withdrawal of charges, which means you may be out but not completely free.”
The scale of the practice is unclear.
The state’s response
Army spokesperson Colonel Chris Magezi says allegations of unlawful conduct should be supported by evidence. He says the military operates within the law and works with police and intelligence agencies when necessary.
“We do everything in accordance with the law,” he says.
Magezi says suspects accused of violent crimes are brought before courts and that security agencies monitor social media. He rejects the suggestion that people are being disappeared unlawfully.
“The rest is political and not necessarily people being disappeared. If they disappear, they appear in court,” he says.
He also points to laws governing defamation.
“We have laws on defamation,” he says. “If you are going to say things about someone and you cannot substantiate it, you could be arrested.”
The ultimate fate of the online critics remains in the air: Opoloje was granted bail on October 14, but the criminal charge against her remains. Andrew was also released on bail, but he says the threats and intimidation still loom over him.
Emmanuel says he still does not even know where his son is being held. “I do not know where my son is,” he says.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
