East Africa lawyers demand release of two abducted activists

Activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo. [File, Standard] Lawyers across East Africa have joined human rights groups in demanding the release of two Kenyan activists abducted and detained in neighbouring Uganda. In a statement on Friday, the East Africa Law Society (EALS) expressed deep concern over the disappearance of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo and disappointment at the silence from regional authorities. The two activists went missing on October 1, reportedly abducted by individuals believed to be Ugandan security agents after paying a courtesy visit to opposition politician Bobi Wine. EALS also raised alarm over the disappearance of Humphrey Polepole, a respected Tanzanian diplomat and public servant, describing the cases as part of a growing pattern of cross-border repression in the region. "These are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a deeper malaise, the corrosion of constitutionalism and the quiet normalization of enforced disappearances and cross-border renditions as tools of political control," said EALS President Ramadhan Abubakar. Meanwhile, the families of the missing Kenyans continue their desperate search, saying their pleas to both President William Ruto and President Yoweri Museveni have gone unanswered. "I'm appealing to President Ruto to intervene and bring Bob and Oyoo home. They did not go there to commit any crime," said Frank Njagi, Bob's father. Legal betrayal Their hopes dimmed further on Thursday after a Ugandan High Court dismissed a petition seeking to compel the army to produce the two men. "One cannot squeeze blood from a stone. The State can only produce what it has," ruled the court. The EALS strongly criticised the ruling, describing it as a "constitutional and legal betrayal." "This ruling, though procedurally tidy, is morally hollow. The writ of habeas corpus is not a bureaucratic formality, it is a constitutional appeal to the conscience of the State," said Abubakar. "When courts accept State denials without accountability, they risk becoming altars of impunity. History will judge whether the judiciary preserves liberty or presides over its erosion. The lawyers are now demanding the immediate disclosure of the activists' whereabouts, their safety, and access to legal counsel and family. They further called on the Tanzanian government to provide a transparent account of Polepole's disappearance and urged Kenyan authorities to do more to protect their citizens abroad.

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