Fouad Released, Andrew Mwenda Jailed

Posted on April 30, 2008
Filed Under Activism, Mideast, Africa, Blogging and New Media |

Saudi blogger Fuad alFarhan has finally been released after spending 137 days in jail for simply speaking his mind politely and eloquently. Meanwhile, the Saudi government has no problem whatsoever allowing the shouts and rants of many preachers of death.

Lovely!

And now for the bad news, Andrew Mwenda, a fearless and inspiring Ugandan journalist I have great respect for, was jailed recently by the Ugandan government. He’s now out on bond but is still facing considerable danger. Please spread the word!

Comments

9 Responses to “Fouad Released, Andrew Mwenda Jailed”

  1. Aaron Stewart on April 30th, 2008 7:57 pm

    I was so saddened to hear of Adnrew’s harassment and imprisonment. He is a great man and deserves far better than the corrupt authorities are giving him.

  2. Drima on May 1st, 2008 8:16 am

    I hope they leave him alone.

  3. VadimM on May 2nd, 2008 9:29 am

    As someone who’s closely familiar with what’s going on in Uganda, I can tell you that Andrew Mwenda is simply a liar. He would do anything to assault the President, his family, his cabinet, simply for the sake of assaulting them with absolutely no facts behind his claims, so this case of alleged “persecution” of the journalist simply doesn’t click. The man is a liar and he’s been detained and questioned for lying. There is nothing more to this story. Next time he lies, I hope they detain and throw him in jail again, this time for a longer term.

  4. Drima on May 2nd, 2008 9:54 am

    VadimM, any links on that please? What did he do to make you accuse him of being a liar?

  5. VadimM on May 2nd, 2008 1:22 pm

    Drima, how about almost all of his articles in the past couple of years, where he attacks anything and anyone related to the government in Uganda in general, and the President in particular. To Mwenda it is all personal, never substantial.

    This guy is giving free journalism a bad name. I hope the fact that he’s working for the newspaper “The Monitor” (belongs to the opposition, endorses opposition candidates in Parliament and Presidential elections) for years and was doing so undisturbed until constructive criticism turned into nasty personal attacks means something.

    Just an example: when John Garang (the leader of SPLA) a personal friend of Ugandan president Museveni was killed in the helicopter crash when returning from Uganda to Juba, Andrew Mwenda, during his radio show suggested that Museveni plotted to kill Garang by putting him into junk helicopter. And that BEFORE any investigation into the heli crash was even launched. I think you, Drima, know that in that very crash some top Ugandan officers got killed as well, since the heli crew included top UPDF pilots and the heli itself was Presidential. And I don’t even want to mention how Mwenda endlessly called the President of Uganda “coward”, “villager” and attacked his family members in the same way.

    Just because you oppose the government or a certain official, does not mean you can go that law and verbally abuse the person. As far as I know, such abuse is a criminal offense in many Western-style countries.

    And by the way, if you go to this newspaper’s website (http://www.monitor.co.ug you will discover that it is full of criticism as it should be.

  6. VadimM on May 2nd, 2008 1:24 pm

    Sorry for a number of typos in my previous comment, was in a hurry :)

  7. VadimM on May 2nd, 2008 1:35 pm

    Drima, just as was mentioning Garang’s death in my comments, there is report of a plane crash that kills the Dominic Dim and another official. What a cruel coincidence…

    I hope Andrew Mwenda doesn’t blame Museveni for that.

  8. Drima on May 3rd, 2008 1:07 pm

    VadimM, I wasn’t aware of that. This is the first time, that I hear the “other side” of the story. As anyone should be, I’m open to both sides so I’ll check the link out.

    Thanks for following up with a long reply. :)

  9. VadimM on May 4th, 2008 6:29 am

    Sure…:)…I gotta admit though, I’m a bit over-sensitive when it comes to Uganda:).

    But yes, to cut to the point, Mwenda went too far. I think that saying something like “the president’s days will be numbered if he goes on a collision course with me” on the radio can hardly be called “criticism”.

    Mwenda cynically uses the almost automatic support of free journalists/bloggers that is given to the opposition. That is way wrong, and mostly unethical on his part.

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