Uganda journalist and filmmaker Moses Bwayo held in prison News
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Uganda journalist and filmmaker Moses Bwayo held in prison

Ugandan authorities placed freelance journalist and independent filmmaker Moses Bwayo in custody in Luzira Prison on Wednesday. He has been charged with illegal assembly.

At the time of his arrest, Bwayo was engaged in filming a documentary about Robert Kyagulanyi (aka Bobi Wine), an opposition politician and popular musician. Kyagulanyi has emerged as a strong challenger for the Ugandan presidency, in part due to his popularity with younger voters. Critics of the current president, 75-year-old Yoweri Museveni, have accused him of cracking down on independent media and members of the opposition party.

Bwayo’s lawyer, Caleb Alaka, applied for bail, but the magistrate remanded Bwayo to jail because magistrate and the prosecution claimed they needed more time to respond to the application. The bail hearing has been set for Friday. The Committee to Protect Journalists, and other journalist rights organizations, have demanded Bwayo’s release.

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