Falana petitions UN over Bobi Wine’s house arrest

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has submitted a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN-WGAD) over the continued house arrest of Ugandan opposition figure, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine.
Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), disclosed this and made a copy of the complaint available in mails sent to some journalists Tuesday.
Falana urged the UN-WGAD, an affiliate body of the global organisation, the United Nations (UN), to “initiate a procedure involving the investigation of the case of Mr. Wine together with his wife and his domestic staff”.
Aside from demanding the immediate release of Wine and other detained persons, Falana asked the group to “send an allegation letter to the Government of Uganda inquiring about the case generally” and raise spexific questions “about the legal basis for his arrest, detention, and/or degrading treatment, each of which is in violation of international law”.
He asked the UN group to issue “an opinion declaring that the deprivation of liberty and detention of Mr Wine, together with his wife and domestic staff is arbitrary and in violation of Uganda’s Constitution and obligations under international human rights law”.
Ugandan security forces had reportedly laid siege to Wine’s house since Thursday’s controversial election which returned 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni to office for a sixth term.
Wine, his wife, Barbara Kyagulanyi, children and domestic staff, were said to have been detained in the house after he cast his vote on Thursday.
The pop-star-turned-politician, 38, has repeatedly experienced harrassmsent, arrest and detention by Ugandan security agencies in the period leading to the just-concluded election in which he polled 34.8 per cent of the votes.