Local and international pressure is piling on the Ugandan government to release popular musician and legislator, Robert Kyagulanyi commonly known as Bobi Wine who has been detained by the country’s military.
On Wednesday, the Ugandan military released a video which sought to confirm that Bobi Wine was not in a life threatening condition, as widely reported by his lawyers and family.
In the eight-second clip circulated widely on social media, Bobi Wine is seen in a red shirt and a pair of shorts with slippers sitting around a plastic table, laughing but with apparent difficulty.
The video emerged after he was visited at Makindye Military Barracks by the Deputy Speaker of Uganda’s parliament, Jacob Oulanyah who later confirmed the MP’s poor state of health.
“I talked with Hon. Kyagulanyi but he is in a lot of pain. He is however in a uniquely humorous mood and we were laughing with him,” Oulanyah was quoted as saying.
Bobi Wine has been in detention for 10 days following his arrest in the West Nile town of Arua where he was campaigning for an opposition candidate in a parliamentary race. Meanwhile,the #FreeBobi Wine petition that has been used by several of the parliamentarian’s supporters and well-wishers has continued to gain steam.
Musicians Chris Martin, Angelique Kidjo, Chrissie Hynde and Damon Albarn were among those who have strongly condemn the arrest, imprisonment and vicious, life-threatening physical attack by Ugandan government forces on Bobi Wine.
Other signatories of the letter included the Nigerian-born nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, the deputy leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Tom Watson as well as Ugandan civil society activists.
Bobi Wine, who is due to appear before a court martial on Thursday on charges of illegal possession of weapons has been a vocal critic of long-serving President Yoweri Museveni.
On Wednesday, hundreds of his supporters gathered at Kampala’s main Catholic cathedral to pray for the safe release of the 36-year-old singer.
The treatment of Kyagulanyi is fast becoming a lightning rod for youthful opposition to the long rule of the 74-year-old Museveni, who seized power in 1986 as the head of a rebel army.
Museveni on Wednesday evening issued a statement saying he does not have the power to release Bobi Wine, urging Ugandans to be patient and let the law take its course.
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