Uganda: Drop Sedition Case

A couple weeks ago, I highlighted how Uganda's decision to shut down a radio station and charge Andrew Mwenda (pictured), a leading libertarian radio and print journalist, with sedition has caused alarm in the country. His attorney yesterday asked the court to stay proceedings until the Constitutional Court rules on the law's constitutionality and interpretation. Mr. Mwenda is being charged with uttering 'seditious' statements against President Yoweri Museveni and the government during his live talk-show earlier this month. There has been intense speculation in the Ugandan media about possible incompetence in the July 30 helicopter crash that killed Sudanese First Vice President John Garang. The helicopter belonged to President Museveni, and it was flying VP Garang back to Sudan from Uganda. "I have been seeing this young boy, Mwenda, writing about Rwanda, writing about Sudan, writing about [the Ugandan army]. He must stop. Completely," President Museveni recently said. Mr. Mwenda faces five years in prison or a US$27 fine (sizeable for most Ugandans).