Ugandan satirical novelist and prominent critic of president arrested

A prominent critic of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni who is also a satirical novelist and international literary award winner was detained on Tuesday, according to his lawyer and posts on his own social media accounts.

A prominent critic of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni who is also a satirical novelist and international literary award winner was detained on Tuesday, according to his lawyer and posts on his own social media accounts. It was not immediately clear who had arrested Kakwenza Rukirabashaija and the reasons for his detention. Police did not answer calls from Reuters for a comment.

"Men with guns are breaking my door. They say they are police men but are not in uniform. I've locked myself inside," Kakwenza posted on his Facebook page. His lawyer Eron Kiiza later told Reuters his client had been detained but that he was yet find out where he was being held or by whom and for what reason.

"We are searching everywhere for him right now," he said. Rukirabashaija has authored several books but he is well known for "The Greedy Barbarian," a satirical novel about a fictional country that tackles themes of corruption and greed.

The novel is widely seen in Uganda to mirror the political life of Museveni and his government. In April 2020 he was detained by the military and interrogated for five days in the Ministry of Defence headquarters about whether his novel is a satire of Museveni who has ruled the East African country for 35 years.

During the interrogation he was beaten https://www.reuters.com/article/uganda-politics-idUSL8N2EE4Q8 with a baton, punched in the face and chained up. He sustained a damaged kidney from the torture. He was announced this year's winner of the PEN Pinter Prize for an International Writer of Courage award. Kakwenza is one of a growing number of authors and online critics of Museveni who have been targeted in recent years, often charged with offences that rights activists and lawyers say are a disguised punishment for their censure of government.

In posts on social media he has also criticised Museveni's son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a general in the military widely seen as being groomed to take over from his father.

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