Uganda President Yovery Museweni has signed an amendment to the law, once again, will allow citizens to try in a military court under certain circumstances.
A previous law allowing such tests was unconstitutionally ruled by the Supreme Court in January.
Before that decision, If they were found with military equipment, citizens could be taken to a military tribunal Like gun or army uniform. The activists had complained that the law was used to persecute government critics.
The MPs passed amendment last month amid a heavy police attendance and boycott by opposition MPs, who argued that it violated the decision by the Supreme Court of the country.
In January, judges said that military courts were neither fair nor capable of using judicial functions, at that time the International Society for Human Rights.
Amendment tries and addresses some issues.
It says that there should be relevant legal qualifications and training among those presiding over the tribunal. It also states that they should be independent and fair when performing their legal tasks.
But citizens can still be transferred to citizens when found with military hardware.
“Law will decisively deal with armed violent criminals, stopping the formation of terrorist political groups that try to eliminate democratic processes, and ensure that national security is bound on a firm founding base. If it is not broken, do not fix it!” Col Chris Magezi wrote on X after the bill was passed by MPs,
But opposition leader Bobby Wine said that the law would be used against him and others.
The AFP news agency said, “All of us in opposition are being targeted by the Act.”
Uganda Law SocietyA professional body that represents the country’s lawyers, has said that it will “challenge the constitutionality”.
For years, the activists had argued that the military courts were being used by the government to silence the dissidents, alleging that evidence was imposed.
“If you are a political opponent, they will find a way to bring you under the military court and then you know that your fate is sealed … Once, justice will never go to your door,” Human Rights Advocate Gavaya Tegulle focused the BBC on Africa Podcast in February.
He said that people can spend years in custody on remand as the courts wait for the verdict with senior military data, which can never come, and those who are tried and found guilty, citizens face rigorous punishment compared to the courts.
A high-profile case recently led the arrest of the long November prolonged opposition Figure Kiza Besigia. He was taken to the neighboring Kenya, taken beyond the border and then an attempt to buy a pistol in a military court and to buy weapons abroad, which he refused.
Those allegations were removed, and replaced with others, when their case was transferred to a civil court following the Supreme Court’s decision.
Mousweni, who has been in power since 1986, Decision described as a “wrong decision”Saying that “the country is not ruled by judges. It is ruled by people.”
He had Protected use of first military courts Saying that they “deal with the massive activities of criminals and terrorists who were using guns to kill people indiscriminately”.
He said that the civil courts were very busy to “handle these gun criminals quickly”.
