Joseph Harry Ochieng

Journalist by training, activist/ businessman.

[Agather Atuhaire @AAgather]

.@AloikinOpoloje is being forced to sign a document apologizing and pledging that she will never record any videos criticizing the powers that be. Of course Praise has refused and she has now been taken back to the cells

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

#FREEPRAISE

[Agora Discourse @AgoraCFR]

Praise needs everyone’s solidarity. Be as if posting this for the start.

#FreePraiseAloikin

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

@bathelshoshana1 To finish the job in iran 🇮🇷

[TOKO @GodwinTOKO]

Just had a longer conversation with @AloikinOpoloje, and this is what she told me to put out.

Upon her abduction on Saturday evening, her captors drove with her towards Entebbe. They told her she would be punished for "abusing their president", that is, not Museveni, but his son, Muhoozi.

They beat her in the drone, but kept saying the "real beating" would happen in the "basement" and it was where they were destined. One of them told her they could kill her, put her in a bodybag and dump it away and no one "could do anything about it".

About halfway the journey towards Entebbe, one of the men in the drone received a phone call, from who, she can't tell. The call recipient ordered the car to drive back to Kampala. Praise would not be taken to the basement, he announced. He, like everyone in the drone was disenchanted by the call - heartbroken even! They were so eager to torture her - one of them even said he was supposed to r*pe - her, she told me. After the call, she says they loudly complained that they "spend all their days on missions" only to be given "stupid orders" at the end! He added that for that "mission", that is, abducting 25-year-old unarmed Praise, he had not eaten the whole day!

Still, Praise didn't know where they were going, but given the beastly tendencies of her captors, she could tell that whatever was a disappointment for them may be good for her, after all.

At the end of the journey, the drone (Toyota Hiace Van) pulled up at Kampala Police Station! In total disregard of @PoliceUg procedures, her details were not taken down, but the police simply checked her into their cell for women. The officers who locked her up threatened to kill her if she doesn't keep quiet.

She was kept at CPS. So, it turns out, this whole time, Praise was at CPS in Kampala! Fortunately, the officers at CPS, despite their threats, didn't lay a finger on her. However, she was only given a single meal this time, throughout the ordeal.

A statement has been taken from her, she will be charged for "broadcasting without a license" under the UCC Act. That is, she has a TikTok account without getting permission from the Ugandan regime. A lawyer is with her.
#FreePraiseAloikin
#TheCabbageCaseUg

[Agora Discourse @AgoraCFR]

Update.

Praise Aloikin is at CPS. At the moment, they are trying to make her sign documents she says she does not understand.

We are putting up a team of lawyers as fast as possible for immediate response.

In a few hours, we should be able to ascertain the state of her health and the possibility of securing her freedom. This will inform our next set of actions.

Let us not relent in demanding for her release. #FreePraiseAloikin

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

Eeeh

[TOKO @GodwinTOKO]

According to @AloikinOpoloje, she's being charged for "Broadcasting without a license". That is, the Ugandan state, with all its might, is saying it abducted 25-year-old Praise & held her incommunicado b'se she owned a TikTok account without the state's permission, & now wants her in jail for it!

Call this THE CABBAGE CASE!
#FreePraiseAloikin

[Agather Atuhaire @AAgather]

These are the numbers that called Praise Aloikin to the police station. And we established that vehicle number UA 875 AG in which @AloikinOpoloje was adopted is registered under State House Uganda. Over to you @NinyeTabz and all.

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

@lulanzeashirafu The church!

[Mwami lu @lulanzeashirafu]

How it started

[NICHOLAS SENGOBA @nsengoba]

Allegedly an LC II Chairperson wanted to make a security announcement at All Saints
@ChurchofUganda_ Abim, without the consent of the Reverend.
The disagreement descended into a fist fight that disrupted the Church service as the congregants struggled to seperate the two.

[NICHOLAS SENGOBA @nsengoba]

Allegedly an LC II Chairperson wanted to make a security announcement at All Saints
@ChurchofUganda_ Abim, without the consent of the Reverend.
The disagreement descended into a fist fight that disrupted the Church service as the congregants struggled to separate the two

[Mwami lu @lulanzeashirafu]

According to the look of things the driver was in the plan, that's the game....

Video: @bukeddeonline

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

@0ivankaTrump1 A

[TOKO @GodwinTOKO]

We'll have a Space @AloikinOpoloje today featuring @AAgather, @Makana_Kennedy and @LouisKyle_ who was with her during the abduction yesterday.

Please note that this space will depart from the usual timing & be hosted from 5 pm instead, via @AgoraCFR.
#FreePraiseAloikin

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

@ugandarn Tax payers money shouldn't be wasted here going for a by-election. let the rightful winner be declared and the one who doctored signatures be made to pay the others legal costs and then locked up.

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

Okay!

[Uganda Radio Network @ugandarn]

A police handwriting expert confirmed to the Masaka High Court that some signatures on declaration-of-results forms used in declaring the results of the Bukomansimbi District Woman Member of Parliament election were forged.   

Senior Superintendent of Police Elisha Ssebuwufu, attached to the Police Forensic Laboratory, testified as a witness in an election petition challenging the results and declaration from the January 15 general elections.     

He took the witness stand on Saturday to testify before Justice Rosette Comfort Kania, concerning the dispute over the authenticity of declaration of results forms from seven polling stations in Bukomansimbi District.     

The petition was filed by former Bukomansimbi Woman MP and National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Veronica Nannyondo, challenging the declaration of National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Ruth Katushabe as the winner of the elections.

https://t.co/2mU1263de7

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

@observerug The bigger question is, WHO OWNS YALELO?! let's start from there tomorrow.

[Agather Atuhaire @AAgather]

But also a person who is afraid of everyone including a 73 year old woman and now a 26 year old girl can’t be fit to be President let alone CDF anywhere!!!! This level of inadequacy is alarming. If we are attacked by any of the neighboring countries how are we sure he won’t be a cry baby that they have “insulted” him or focus on petty things like who isn’t worshipping him than the actual battles!!

[African Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders @whrdinitiative]

We are alarmed that Aloikin Praise Opoloje, a young Ugandan woman human rights defender who has spoken out against repression and the torture of activists, has been abducted and that her whereabouts remain unknown. Her disappearance raises grave concerns about the safety of women who exercise their freedom of expression and dare to speak truth to power.

The silencing of women who challenge power is not incidental to repression; it is part of how repression works. Women human rights defenders must be free to speak, dissent, organise and resist without fear of disappearance or reprisal.

@AloikinOpoloje must be released immediately. Her safety must be guaranteed.

#ReleasePraise
#SafeguardWHRDs

@AndreaBV_SR_HRD @martinennals @achpr_cadhp @X @BBCAfrica @ProtestZa @FrontLineHRD @MaryLawlorhrds @whrds_at_risk @UNHumanRights @civicspaceaf

[Joseph Harry Ochieng @JosephOchi75667]

Oh so this is the video that landed her into a basement

[Nahabwe Bruce @brucenahabwe1]

COMRADE PRAISE HAS BEEN ABDUCTED FOR SPEAKING UP!
#FreePraiseAloikin
#FreeUgandaNow