Journalists Arrested Over Ex-Ugandan Parliamentary Member's Detention Story

Four journalists operating in Obongi District, Uganda were arrested by the police on Tuesday for yet unknown reasons.

Scovin Iceta of the Daily Monitor and NTV, Ronald Debo of TBS FM, Stephen Onzimai, and Mustafa Safi of Voice of Madi FM are among the four.

“They have confined us in a small room. They have left us with all our gadgets but we are being guarded by the police and the army here at Obongi CPS,” Iceta narrated on phone.

This comes after Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, the former MP for Obongi County, was arrested at Obongi Central Police Station on Monday after being arrested.

When the journalists went to the police station to inquire about the detention of MMrFungaroo, who was taken up by the security forces because he had gone to a funeral nearby, they were detained.

He has not yet been charged with anything.

Ignatius Dragudu, a spokesman for the North Western Police, claimed to have discussed the journalists' release with the local police commander.

“I told them to release the journalists and do their work.

"I don’t know why journalists should be arrested when they are doing their work,” he wondered, adding: “I have quickly called the Regional police commander to inform him about the arrest of the four journalists. 

"We are going to talk to the district police commander of Obongi to release them. It is not proper to arrest a journalist while in the line of duty.”, he said.