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- UN calls for end to Uganda’s crackdown on dissent and opposition groups
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Get you up to speed: UN demands end of Ugandan clampdown on dissent
The United Nations condemned Uganda for its escalating clampdown on dissent and opposition groups. This statement followed the hospitalisation of 70-year-old opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who collapsed during a court hearing on 29 July 2026 in Kampala.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, raised concerns about a significant increase in repression following the general elections on 15 January, highlighting the arrest and mistreatment of at least 50 opposition figures and various civil society organisations. The Ugandan government has been accused of creating a climate of fear, resulting in forced suspensions of 10 civil society organisations and temporary closures of several media outlets.
The United Nations has called on Ugandan authorities to end the ongoing clampdown on dissent, condemning the “pervasive climate of fear” and the suppression of fundamental freedoms. In response to these violations, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, urged the government to prevent military interference in civil institutions and to prioritise the improvement of conditions for its citizens.
What remains unclear — The UN has not specified how many individuals remain detained under the current oppressive measures in Uganda.
UN calls for end to Uganda’s crackdown on dissent and opposition groups
News|United NationsUN demands end of Ugandan clampdown on dissent
Pervasive climate of fear condemned amid human rights violations and crackdowns on opposition.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
The United Nations has condemned Uganda for its clampdown on dissent and opposition groups.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed his criticism of the country’s increasing pressure on dissidents and others in a statement issued on Thursday.
“I am appalled that the authorities are increasingly targeting any form of dissent, and deepening restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of all those living in Uganda,” Turk said. “Those who dare to speak out are silenced.”
His comments came a day after 70-year-old opposition leader Kizza Besigye was hospitalised in an unresponsive state after he collapsed during a court hearing. Besigye has been in custody since November 2024.
Detained Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye is put in an ambulance after he collapsed while attending a court session where he is on trial for treason, at the High Court in Kampala, Uganda, July 29, 2026 [Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters]
The UN Human Rights office said that repression against those who criticise the government has increased after the general elections on 15 January, when Yoweri K Musevini, 81, was declared president for his seventh term.
At least 50 opposition leaders and supporters, five journalists, and five human rights advocates have been subjected to human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and torture, the statement noted.
Further, 10 civil society organisations have been forcibly suspended, and others subjected to harassment and scrutiny. The government has also forced the temporary closure of some media outlets.
Turk said that the government is “creating a climate of fear that is increasing self-censorship, further stifling public debate, and deepening polarization.”
He urged authorities to prevent military interference in civil institutions and to leverage Uganda’s resources to improve conditions for people and uphold fundamental rights.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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