Uganda: Freedom for Eron Kiiza!
On 7 January, the well-known Ugandan lawyer and poet Eron Kiiza was initially prevented from taking his seat in the military court in Kampala as the lawyer for Kizza Besigye, the opposition’s multiple presidential candidate. After protesting, he was forcibly arrested, taken away and shortly afterwards, now in the defendants’ cage, sentenced to nine months in prison for alleged contempt of court. In the past, Kiiza has defended the writer and dissident Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, now in exile in Germany, and as a lawyer has campaigned against the draconian persecution of homosexuals. His poems speak of the Ugandan people’s yearning for freedom and justice.
Joachim Helfer, board member of PEN Berlin, said: “Our colleague Eron Kiiza, like many of our writers, has a day job as a lawyer. Standing up for people and their rights in a literary or legal way is closely related. A corrupt regime like Uganda’s will try to suppress freedom of expression as well as an independent judiciary. The two go hand in hand and will ultimately prevail everywhere, including in Uganda.”
PEN Berlin calls for the immediate release of Eron Kiiza.”
PEN Berlin. We stand by our word.