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World 22 Jun 2026

Former Kenyan justice minister blocked from entering Uganda, lawyers' body says

Martha Karua is a lawyer representing detained Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye who is on trial for treason.

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Martha Karua is a lawyer representing detained Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye who is on trial for treason. Leading Kenyan lawyer and former Justice Minister Martha Karua has been blocked from entering Uganda and ordered to return home, according to the Uganda Law Society. Karua had just arrived at the Entebbe airport to join a team defending her Ugandan lawyer colleague Erias Lukwago, with whom they have been representing detained opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who is on trial for treason. She said that as a citizen of the East African Community, she should have the right to enter another member country, such as Uganda. Ugandan authorities have not given a reason for blocking Karua, although Kenya's Law Society President Charles Kanjama, who had travelled with her, was allowed in are East African governments uniting to silence dissent? "It is difficult to understand why one member of a defence team should be admitted while another is turned away," he said in a post on X, while calling on Ugandan authorities to explain their actions. Uganda's immigration authorities have not responded to the BBC's request for comment. He denied charges of failing to report treason relating to Besigye's case and was remanded in prison. Besigye has been jailed on treason charges since being abducted in Kenya and forcibly returned to Uganda in late 2024.

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