The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the Ugandan government to withdraw sedition charges against three journalists in relation to a story alleging soldiers were secretly trained as policemen in order to have the police force under military control.
"We are very surprised by these charges, which are totally baseless," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa office.
"In the story, the journalists gave the view of heads of the army and the police. It was a balanced and professional work. Thus we call on the Ugandan government to drop all the charges against the journalists and to make sure they can continue to work freely."
A statement from IFJ received in Accra on Saturday said, "The Monitor", a private newspaper, ran a story with the title, "Soldiers train to take police jobs" last Sunday.
The paper reported that, "at least 40 serving soldiers were quietly drafted into the training programme as part of a move to have the force firmly under military control".
The story also expressed the comments of Army Chief of Staff, Brigadier Robert Rusoke, Army's Chief of Personal and Administration, Colonel Phinehas Katirima and the Acting Commissioner of Police in-Charge of Human Resource Development and Training, Felix Ndyomugenyi, who either denied the information or said they were not aware of it.
On Monday the Monitor's Managing Editor of the Weekend Editions, Bernard Tabaire, Sunday Editor Henry Ochieng and author of the article Chris Obore were summoned by the police and released on bail after they were charged with sedition.
The court hearing is due to resume on Monday.
The journalists' lawyer, James Nangwala, quoted by the Monitor in a story on Monday, said that the "police feared the story was likely to create a collision between the police and the army".
Source: GNA
