The High Court in Kampala has awarded Malcolm Lukwiya Shs10 million after finding that police unlawfully detained him at Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja for 16 days.
Justice Bernard Namanya of the Civil Division delivered the judgment electronically.
He ruled that Lukwiya’s right to personal liberty was violated after he was held beyond the 48-hour constitutional limit without being produced before a court.
The court, however, dismissed Lukwiya’s claims of torture and extra-judicial rendition. The judge found that the allegations had not been sufficiently proved.
Lukwiya had sued the Attorney General. He accused Ugandan security agencies of unlawfully arresting, detaining, torturing and transferring him between Kenya and Uganda in 2015.
Lukwiya recounts 2015 arrest in Nairobi
Lukwiya told court that he was 17 years old when armed security operatives arrested him on July 1, 2015.
He said the arrest happened at Wangige taxi stage in Nairobi. He identified the operatives as both Ugandan and Kenyan officers.
According to his testimony, he was taken to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit headquarters in Kenya.
He said he was detained with his brother, Emmanuel Oneka, while waiting to meet Sadat Ssenabulya.
Lukwiya testified that he was later transferred to Uganda on July 3. He said he was handcuffed, hooded and placed in the boot of a vehicle before being taken to Nalufenya Police Station.
While at Nalufenya, he said he was kept in a dark room and denied access to relatives.
He also said officers questioned him about alleged links to Islamic terrorist groups operating in Somalia, South Sudan and Tanzania.
Lukwiya further alleged that security personnel assaulted him during interrogation. He said they punched and threatened him, and falsely accused him of murdering Sheikh Hassan Kirya.
He also claimed that a Kenyan police officer, Sgt Ezekiel Luley, covered his head with a black hood.
According to Lukwiya, the same officer later gave him food which he believed had been drugged. He said he lost consciousness until he arrived at Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja.
Lukwiya said he was returned to Kenya on July 19, 2015, without going through immigration procedures.
He was later released after terrorism-related charges against him were dropped.
Father says family struggled to trace him
Lukwiya’s father, Webster Lukwiya, also testified in the case.
He told court that he struggled to establish his son’s whereabouts after the arrest.
He said security agencies initially failed to give him information about where his son had been taken.
Webster Lukwiya also told court that after his son’s release, he saw bruises and signs of psychological distress.
He said he believed the injuries and distress resulted from his son’s detention.
Government denies torture and rendition claims
The Attorney General denied Lukwiya’s allegations.
The government argued that Lukwiya’s transfer from Kenya to Uganda did not amount to extra-judicial rendition.
Omoding Wilson Otuna, the former officer in charge of Nalufenya Police Station, testified for the government.
Otuna said he never received any complaint from Lukwiya alleging torture while in detention.
He also told court that no torture complaint was filed during his tenure at the facility.
Otuna said Kenyan police officers picked up Lukwiya from Nalufenya on July 19, 2015.
He disputed parts of Lukwiya’s account, including allegations involving officers whom Lukwiya accused of torture.
Court finds unlawful detention proved
Justice Namanya held that Lukwiya’s torture claim lacked medical evidence.
“Although the plaintiff, Lukwiya, alleged that he was tortured while in police detention, he did not adduce medical evidence in support of that allegation,” the judge held.
The court also declined to find that Lukwiya had been subjected to extra-judicial rendition.
Justice Namanya said the available evidence was not enough to conclusively prove that Lukwiya had been unlawfully moved from Kenya to Uganda outside established legal procedures.
However, the judge found that both Lukwiya’s evidence and the government witness testimony confirmed his detention at Nalufenya.
The court found that he was held from July 3 to July 19, 2015, without being produced before any court in Uganda.
Justice Namanya said the detention exceeded the 48-hour limit under Article 23 of the Constitution.
He also found that the government had not provided any legal justification for holding Lukwiya for that period.
“The defendant adduced no evidence to prove such detention or show that the plaintiff was held pursuant to any recognised judicial order or legal process in Uganda,” he ruled.
The court held the Attorney General vicariously liable for the actions of the police officers involved in the unlawful detention.
It awarded Lukwiya Shs10 million in damages.
The government was also ordered to pay the costs of the suit.
Lukwiya was represented by lawyer Stella Nakamya of Rwakafuuzi & Company Advocates.