Reported by Al Jazeera
Uganda’s online critics allege abductions and intimidation as families search for missing relatives.
Kampala, Uganda – Praise Aloikin Opoloje walks into the visitors’ waiting room at Luzira Women’s Prison wearing an oversized yellow-and-black striped dress and a broad smile.
Detained since September 26, 2026, she was charged with the alleged unlawful use of a SIM card registered in her mother’s name. Her case has drawn attention to the risks faced by Ugandans who use social media to criticise powerful political and military figures.
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Opoloje appeared before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court on September 28, charged with using another person’s SIM card to carry out illegal activity.
She denied the charge under Regulation 29 of Uganda’s 2024 Regulation of Interception of Communications Regulations.
Opoloje says her detention followed a video in which she declared that she was not afraid of General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s military chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni.
Opoloje says she was lured to a Kampala police station by a false accusation that she had stolen a carpet. She alleges that six men then forced her into a Toyota HiAce van, locally known as a “drone”.
“We are going to show you what we do to people who insult our president,” one of the men allegedly told her.
She says the men beat her, threatened to rape her and drove towards Entebbe. She feared they were taking her somewhere she might be tortured. According to Opoloje, a phone call prompted the men to turn back towards Kampala Central Police Station.
Her account of the alleged abduction and mistreatment could not be independently verified.
Asked whether she would cease speaking out, Opoloje said, “Me? Never. In fact, when I get out, if I do, I will start from where I stopped. I cannot keep quiet seeing what is going on in the country.”
Opoloje says she feared being taken to a basement where, she believes, people are tortured and raped. “Being in here in prison is better than being in the basement that they were taking me to,” she says.
Since Al Jazeera’s interview with her, Opoloje…