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\t\t\t\t\tKAMPALA, Uganda \u2013\u00a0The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has drawn a line in the sand. In a rare and defiant move against the security establishment, the ULS has issued a 24-hour ultimatum demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Erias Lukwago, the acting president of the People\u2019s Front for Freedom (PFF) and a key member of veteran opposition politician Dr. Kizza Besigye\u2019s legal team.
\nLukwago was abducted from his Wakaliga residence on Monday morning by armed men in military uniform, in a dawn operation that his wife, Nalongo Zawedde, described as meticulously planned and executed with military precision. His current whereabouts remain unknown, and no state agency has officially claimed responsibility or provided any charges against him.
\nSpeaking at a hastily convened press conference in Kampala, Uganda Law Society acting council secretary Babu Ssali delivered what many are calling a final warning before legal warfare is unleashed.
\n\u201cThe Uganda Law Society demands the immediate and unconditional release of our colleague Erias Lukwago,\u201d Ssali said, his tone measured but firm. \u201cHe was not arrested under any known law. No warrant was produced. No charge has been read. This is not detention\u2014this is enforced disappearance, and it is a crime against the legal profession and the Constitution.\u201d
\nSsali announced that the ULS has activated a special Rule of Law Committee team with a clear mandate: to pursue both domestic and international legal action should Lukwago not be produced within 24 hours.
\nCrucially, the ULS named its intended target. \u201cWe will not limit ourselves to filing habeas corpus petitions in our own courts, which have often been ignored,\u201d Ssali stated. \u201cWe will take action against the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) personally, both locally and before international bodies, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights and the International Criminal Court, if necessary.\u201d
\nThe reference to the CDF\u2014General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni\u2014is significant. Muhoozi has previously posted on social media boasting about the abduction and \u201chumiliation\u201d of opposition figures and their legal representatives, including in the case of Eddie Mutwe (May 2025) and the earlier detention of lawyer Kiiza Ron (January 2025).
\nLegal observers note that threatening the CDF with personal legal liability is an extraordinary step for the ULS, signaling that the society believes the military chain of command is directly responsible for the abduction of a civilian lawyer.
\nThe ULS also announced that it has documented over a dozen similar cases of lawyer abductions since 2020, describing a \u201csystematic pattern\u201d of targeting defense counsel for politically exposed clients.
\n\u201cWe are not politicians. We are lawyers,\u201d Ssali emphasized. \u201cBut when we cannot walk from our homes to the courts without being seized by men in uniform, then there is no Uganda worth practicing law in. The 24 hours are ticking.\u201d
\nReactions
\nDr. Kizza Besigye\u2019s legal team released a brief statement: \u201cErias Lukwago is not just our colleague; he is the acting president of PFF and a defender of the Constitution. His abduction is an attack on the entire opposition and the legal fraternity. We stand with the ULS.\u201d
\nHuman rights groups, including Chapter Four Uganda and the Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ), have expressed solidarity with the ULS ultimatum and called on the international community to apply immediate diplomatic pressure.
\nAs of this publication, the Uganda People\u2019s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the police have not issued any official response. Lukwago\u2019s family remains in anguish, with Nalongo Zawedde saying simply: \u201c24 hours is a long time when you do not know if your husband is alive.\u201d
\nThe clock is now running. If the 24-hour deadline passes without Lukwago\u2019s release, the Uganda Law Society has promised to file unprecedented legal actions that could name General Muhoozi Kainerugaba personally as a respondent.
\nFor a profession already battered by the January 2025 assault on Kiiza Ron and the May 2025 abduction of Eddie Mutwe, this moment may define whether Uganda\u2019s legal community can enforce the very laws it has sworn to protect.<\/p>\n
\tRelated<\/p>\n\n KAMPALA, Uganda \u2013\u00a0The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has drawn a line in the sand. In a rare and defiant move against the security establishment, the ULS has issued a 24-hour ultimatum demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Erias Lukwago, the acting president of the People\u2019s Front for Freedom (PFF) and a key member of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3659155457675267_172535249438148":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction.jpg",612,826,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-222x300.jpg",222,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction.jpg",612,826,false],"large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction.jpg",612,826,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction.jpg",612,826,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction.jpg",612,826,false],"tie-small":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-110x75.jpg",110,75,true],"tie-medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-310x165.jpg",310,165,true],"tie-large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-310x205.jpg",310,205,true],"slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-612x330.jpg",612,330,true],"big-slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Uganda-Law-Society-Issues-24-Hour-Ultimatum-on-Erias-Lukwagos-Abduction-612x525.jpg",612,525,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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