A Ugandan activist was abducted from the streets of Kampala, then found nearly a week later badly beaten by the side of the road outside the city, say his lawyer and his employer.

Stephen Kwikiriza, who is recovering from his injuries after being released from hospital on Wednesday, is an outspoken opponent of a controversial oil pipeline project in Uganda.

His lawyer, Kato Tumusiime, says his client was targeted for his activism. 

“We actually believe that it was the army, under the agencies they operate with, that abducted him,” Tumusiime told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

The Uganda People’s Defence Force did not respond to a CBC request for comment before deadline. In a statement to the Guardian newspaper, a spokesperson denied the allegations and accused Kwikiriza of faking his abduction. 

Human rights groups, including Oxfam and Human Rights Watch, say Kwikiriza’s abduction comes amid a brutal crackdown on pipeline opponents in the country.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders says at least 11 pipeline opponents have been arrested or harassed by authorities between May and June.

Taken off the streets

Kwikiriza works for the non-profit Environment Governance Institute (EGI) in Uganda, where he has been speaking out against the development of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

The $6.8-billion, 400-kilometre pipeline will move oil from the Kingfisher oilfield in Uganda’s Kikuube District, where Kwikiriza lives, to the Tanzanian coast.

Human Rights Watch says the EACOP will displace thousands of Ugandans from their land, and the Climate Accountability Institute says it will emit more 379 million tonnes of carbon emissions over its 25-year lifespan. 

“[Kwikiriza] has been so impactful in mobilizing … the activists in that area at the community level, and as well as linking them up with different journalists, different lawyers and different activists from Kampala and even at the international level,” Tumusiime said.

“This caused a lot of suspicion from the local security.”

Tumusiime says his client has been repeatedly questioned by police and security forces in Kikuube, and had come to the country’s capital Kampala for his own safety.

But while in the city, on June 4, Tumusiime says Kwikiriza received a phone call from a stranger claiming to know his boss at EGI, and asking to meet. He obliged.

“That’s when he was grabbed and dumped into a vehicle that was waiting there, and he was driven off to an unknown place,” Tumusiime said.

Before he went silent, he texted an EGI colleague and said he’d been abducted by plainclothes soldiers, the organization said in a statement.

His employer and several other international organizations sounded the alarm and demanded his release. 

Then, on Sunday night, Tumusiime says Kwikiriza called for help and described what happened to him. He’d been dumped on the side of the road a five-hour drive outside Kampala, the lawyer said.

“When I first saw him, he was very weak,” Tumusiime said.

Tumusiime says his client was suffering headaches from being repeatedly struck in the head with a gun, and had a rash on his body from sleeping on a concrete floor.

He says Kwikiriza was taken in broad daylight by men in plainclothes, then detained, abused and questioned about his activism. As Kwikiriza disappearance started drawing international attention, his abductors asked him about that, too.

“Since journalists and other international bodies were demanding for his release, they were questioning him [about] how is he connected to these international communities, and why is everybody asking him to be released?” Tumusiime said.

“Of course, he did not have any answer at the time. He did not realize what was happening on social media or on news or everywhere.”

Col. Deo Akiiki, deputy spokesperson for Uganda’s military, denied Kwikiriza was ever in custody.

“It has been established that the said person is totally deceiving. All facts have been established. We are in touch with police and his organisation to know his intentions of telling such lies,” Akiiki said in a statement to the Guardian.

The fight continues

EACOP is majority-owned by France’s TotalEnergie, with China’s National Offshore Oil Corporation and the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments holding minority stakes.

In a statement to Reuters, TotalEnergies said it “does not tolerate any threat or attack against those who peacefully defend and promote human rights.”

Despite what happened, Tumusiime says his client has no intention of backing down in his fight against the pipeline. 

“Stephen is very, very committed to continue pursuing for his rights and the rights of the people that are affected by oil projects, so that his cause can be a meaningful cause, and it can cause a change that can help these people get fair compensation, get their rights respected and their voices heard,” he said.

“He is very well committed to continue his struggle until he achieves what he believes in.”