Newly elected Arua Municipality lawmaker has told international media how he and his colleagues were beaten by security forces following the fracas that ensured on the last day of campaigns.
“We were locked up in a crowded cell on bare cement with a lot of mosquitoes feeding on us every other second, so we really suffered,” Wadri said.
Wadri is among 34 people facing treason charges over allegations that they stoned President Yoweri Museveni’s car.
He said that musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was arrested by the elite presidential guards and “tortured gravely”.
The same treatment was meted out to opposition MP Francis Zaake, who is still in hospital.
“Those of us who were harassed and beaten by the police are a little better but the special guard for the president caused immense pain and torture to our people.”
Mr Wadri said they were “barely” given food and that the police chased away well wishers who had brought come with food.
However, he praised Uganda’s prison services after they were relocated from the police cell, saying that they had remained “professional and treated them with dignity”.
He said the court order barring him from visiting his constituency in northern Uganda for three months was unfair but he said he would respect it.
It was during the last day of the by-election campaign for the northern Arua town municipality seat that the stoning of a vehicle in the presidential convoy allegedly happened.
He denied that he was involved, saying he did not meet or see the presidential motorcade, adding that the charges were “a premeditated act.”
