Opio’s Arrest: Kyagulanyi’s International Lawyer Amsterdam Rushes To US House Of Representatives, Demands Urgent Sanctions Against Top Ugandan Security Officers

Opio’s Arrest: Kyagulanyi’s International Lawyer Amsterdam Rushes To US House Of Representatives, Demands Urgent Sanctions Against Top Ugandan Security Officers

By Spy Uganda Correspondent

USA: Following the arrest of senior human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio and presidential candidate Hon Robert Kyagulanyi’s lawyers, both local and international activists have asked the US government to punish “let’s make Museveni happy while brutalizing innocent Ugandans” police officers by imposing on them toughest sanctions.

READ ALSO: US Representative & Chairman Of House Committee On Foreign Affairs, Eliot Calls For Sanctions Against Ugandan Security Officials Over Rights Violations,Murder

Among the activists who have been touched by Uganda’s rotting security state is known Kyagulanyi’s international lawyer based in US Robert Amsterdam who have since wrote to the US’ house of representatives asking them to act on Uganda in a special way to save innocent citizens dying every day due to police’s brutality.

Mr Amsterdam, who also represented Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu and Cameroon’s Maurice Kamto, says that the actions by the regime of President Yoweri Museveni represents a clear and unambiguous attack on the democratic rights of the Ugandan people.

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Amsterdam’s Letter To US House Of Representatives

Read Full Letter Below;

“LONDON WASHINGTON DC 2200 PENNSYLVANIA AVE NW FOURTH FLOOR EAST WASHINGTON DC 20037 MAIN:+1 202 301 8811

Hon. Rep. Elliot L. Engel Chairman on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee 2426 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Rep. Michael McCaul Lead Republican of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee 2001 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

RE:Urgent Appeal For Action On Uganda

December 22, 2020

Dear Congressmen,

I am writing to you with regard to urgently concerning developments of human rights violations taking place at the hands of the Uganda Police Force with the intentional aim of interfering with the right to legal counsel.

Our firm acts as international counsel to Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, a Member of Parliament and leading opposition candidate for the National Unity Platform (NUP) contesting in the January 14, 2021 Presidential elections.

READ ALSO: There’s Much More Lacking On Human Rights, Democracy: President Trump Writes To Museveni On Uganda’s Independence Celebrations

Today on December 22 we are notified that our colleague, the distinguished human rights attorney Nicholas Opiyo, was brutally arrested by plainclothes officers of the Uganda Police Force, blindfolded, and thrown into an unmarked van and taken to a secret location.

Later the police would claim without evidence that the arrest was related to “money laundering” accusations. Mr. Opiyo was arrested at a restaurant alongside four other lawyers, Dakasi Herbert, Odur Anthony and Esomu Obure, as well as Tenywa Hamid, a human rights officer with the NUP.

This action by the regime of President Yoweri Museveni represents a clear and unambiguous attack on the democratic rights of the Ugandan people.

READ ALSO: Trump Moves On Museveni As US Report Pins Ugandan Gov’t On Human Rights Abuse

Such thuggish scare tactics and trumped up charges are aimed at discouraging the investigation being led by these lawyers into the police killings of 37 protesters on the 18th and 19th of November.

We are very grateful for the letter you both signed on December 9, 2020 to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in which you called for seven top Ugandan security officials to face individual sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act for their role in rights abuses.

READ ALSO: Drop Charges Or Face Dire Sanctions: EU Parliament Mounts Pressure On Museveni Gov’t To Drop ‘Trumped-up’ Charges Against Bobi Wine

This letter correctly argues that “it is imperative that the United States and its international partners act to prevent further destabilization in Uganda and facilitate the opening of civic and political space for which Ugandan citizens are mobilizing.”

As noted in your letter, President Museveni has not responded to diplomatic rhetoric. And with the brazen arrest of Mr. Opiyo, the most well known face of human rights in the country, it is clear that Museveni also does not respond to rhetoric regarding sanctions.

The time is now to follow through and apply these targeted penalties before it is too late.

We respectfully urge that the leadership of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee put its full weight behind this call for individual Magnitsky Act sanctions via a resolution urging action on behalf of both Treasury and State Department.”

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