KAMPALA, April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ten police officers in Uganda have been charged for allegedly torturing a group of women while enforcing a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Uganda Police Force said on Tuesday.
The officers were accused of caning 38 women and forcing them to swim in mud in the northern town of Elegu.
The 10 officers will be held in custody until May 7, the police said.
Photos of the women showing injuries they had sustained and their muddy clothes were shared online over the weekend.
Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga, said that the officers used a “heavy-handed approach” to disperse the women, adding that the incident was being investigated.
On April 2 Human Rights Watch accused Ugandan security patrols of using “excessive force, including beating, shooting and arbitrarily detaining people across the country” in enforcing social distancing and lockdown requirements.
President Yoweri Museveni last week told police officers not to arrest people inside their compounds. — NNN-AGENCIES