Uganda's female politicians protest police strippings

By Halima Athumani

KAMPALA, Uganda

Police in Uganda are facing a barrage of criticism after they allegedly stripped a leading female opposition politician during an arrest.

Fatuma Zainab, environment secretary for the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday of her ordeal as she travelled to a political rally over the weekend.

The incident, which was capture by local TV news broadcasters, showed Zainab, a Muslim mother-of-two, being arrested when the convoy she was travelling in to a rally in the western town of Rukungiri was stopped.

Police began arresting the activists, including lawmakers, and putting them in waiting trucks.

“I assumed that since I was the only woman and not doing any wrong they would not arrest or beat me,” she said.

However, an officer then pointed at her and shouted for others to arrest Zainab.

“They got me, I tripped and fell down,” she said.”That was when some three police officers came and pulled off my trouser and my blouse leaving me naked.”

Wearing just her headscarf, Zainab crawled under a vehicle to try to preserve her dignity. Police then called for a tow truck to pull the vehicle away from where she lay.

“One man called out to the driver not to move saying, ‘Please stop, you are going to kill her’,” Zainab told Anadolu Agency.

She recounted how male police officers tossed her clothes towards her as she lay under the vehicle. Having put her clothes back on, Zainab was then grabbed by a group of male and female police.

“They started dragging me on the road, they pulled at my trousers and my pleas fell on deaf ears,” she added. “By the time they carried me to the police vehicle, I was again naked and they were giving me my clothes saying dress up. I told them ‘No, you wanted to see me naked, I don’t want to cover myself, take me the way I am.’”

The incident is not the first time police in the majority-Christian country have allegedly targeted female opposition politicians in this way.

Last month, Nalongo Hamida, the vice chairwoman of the FDC’s women’s league, found herself half-naked in front of the parliament building in Kampala.

“I had gone there to attend a meeting discussing the Citizens’ Compact on how elections should be conducted,” the mother-of-twins said.

“When I got there they asked me to prove am a Ugandan, asked if I knew where I was going and if it was legal.”

Hamida said the officers showed no respect for her Muslim faith.

“Both male and female officers grabbed me and when I fell down, one group grabbed one leg and the other was pulled to a different direction,” she said. “They dragged me on the concrete floor hitting my head several times.”

Under intense pressure to apologize to Zainab, the police have claimed she undressed herself.

Spokesman Fred Enanga insisted the video shown on local television was doctored to generate anti-police hostility. He claimed female officers asked Zainab to get dressed but she refused.

He added that Zainab dared the police to strip her. “We know this is a strategy the opposition wants to use,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Ruth Sebatindira, president of the Ugandan Law society, described the police’s actions as “heinous, inexcusable, grossly indecent and inhuman” as well as a violation of the Constitution.

“We treat these events as unacceptable, unfortunate and a backward assault on Ugandans by those supposed to protect them,” she said.