Kizza Besigye sues Kenya govt officials, Police chief over 'illegal kidnap'

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Four-time presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye and his aide, Hajj Obeid Lutale, have petitioned court, contending that they were illegally kidnapped from Nairobi in Kenya.

Besigye and Lutale sued Kenya’s cabinet secretaries of foreign affairs’ ministry, defence ministry, interior and national administration, Inspector General of Police, director general of the directorate of immigration services, Attorney General and the officer in-charge of Malaba border post.

The Law Society of Kenya also joined in the suit as an interested party.

Through James Njeri and Company Advocates, a law firm based in Kenya, the petitioners assert that the Ugandan Government said their arrest and extradition were conducted in concert with officials of the Government of Kenya.

The duo state that Uganda’s information minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi, informed a local media that Besigye and Lutale’s arrest was a co-ordinated effort between Kenya and Ugandan forces.

The duo’s lawyer said the narrative was further supported by Uganda’s Defence Forces Spokesperson Brig. Gen Felix Kulayigye that there is in existence a legal framework between Kenya and Uganda, under which the petitioners were arrested in Kenya and sent to Uganda without going through extradition processes.

Despite these admissions, Kenya’s cabinet secretary of foreign affairs’ ministry through its Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei denied that Kenya was involved in the arrest and extradition of the petitioners.

The lawyers say the position was contradicted by the Kenya’s cabinet secretary of foreign affairs’ ministry, who on May 20, 2025, declared in one of the country’s local media that the Kenyan and Ugandan government had “cooperated” to send the petitioners back to Uganda.

The petitioners’ lawyers contend that the denial suggests that security personnel of Uganda gained access to Kenyan territory and illegally conducted police work within the Kenyan territory, violating its integrity under the watchful eye of the defence ministry tasked with the mandate of securing Kenya’s borders.

The lawyers argue that the use of Uganda’s policemen to arrest Besigye and Lutale in Kenya, was done in the full knowledge of the Kenyan interior and national administration ministry and Inspector General of Police, who are clothed with the authority to ensure that only Kenyan security forces exercise police power within Kenya’s borders.

The presence of the petitioners in the company of security officers from Uganda while being abducted from and exited from Kenya’s territory was illegal and unconstitutional,” the petition reads in part.

The lawyers argue that the actions of the Kenya and Uganda Governments against Besigye and Lutale have violated the rights enjoyed under Kenya’s Constitution and violated Kenya’s territorial integrity.

The alleged kidnap

Court documents indicate Besigye and Lutale were on the morning of November 16, 2024, allowed into the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and lawfully went about their business in Nairobi, Kenya where they had gone to grace a book launch at the Invitation of the senior counsel Martha Karua.

Consequently, the two were unlawfully, forcefully and violently abducted within Kenyan territory by security agencies and driven back to Uganda.

Shortly before the abduction, about eight men in civilian clothes armed with submachine guns (SMGs) introduced themselves to the petitioners as Kenyan Police and informed them that they were under arrest and immediately took them to a basement.

They had three vehicles; however, the petitioners were bundled in one vehicle with four persons, including the driver and the other persons occupying the other vehicles.

The other three vehicles escorted the petitioner’s car to the fuel station where their vehicle was fueled and drove straight to Malaba border post and it is from there that they got to know that the four persons were Ugandans after they heard them speak in the local dialect “Runyankore”.

Upon arrival in Kampala, Uganda, the petitioners were detained at Makindye Military Barracks before arraignment at the General Court Martial, where they were charged with terrorism and unlawful possession of firearms.

Later, the duo’s case was transferred to a civilian court following the Supreme Court judgement that military trials of civilians were unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court also ordered the transfer of all ongoing and pending cases involving civilians from military courts to civilian courts.

However, Uganda’s parliament later passed a bill in May 2025 that allows for military trials of civilians in specific circumstances.

Prayers

The applicants seek a declaration that their arrest violated their rights under the Constitution of Kenya.

The lawyers also want the court to declare that the extradition and or repatriation of the petitioners from Kenya to Uganda was illegal, unconstitutional and did not meet the strict requirements of the Extradition (Commonwealth Countries) Act Cap 77.

They further seek a declaration that any security memorandum of understanding between Kenya and Uganda that bypasses the requirements of the Extradition (Commonwealth Countries) Act Cap 77 is unconstitutional.

They also seek a declaration that the liberties and guarantees of Chapter Four of the Constitution of Kenya are applicable to and enjoyed by foreigners within Kenyan territory.

They also seek an order holding the respondents jointly and severally liable for violating the Constitution and awarding exemplary, general, consequential and punitive damages as the court deems appropriate.