Uganda blocks Martha Karua from entering for opposition legal case

Uganda turned back Martha Karua at Entebbe International Airport and ordered the veteran Kenyan opposition lawyer to return to Kenya, a move that immediately raised questions about legal access, political space and the limits of cross-border solidarity in East Africa. The former justice minister had traveled to Uganda to support cases tied to some of the country’s most prominent opposition figures, including Kizza Besigye, Obeid Lutale and Erias Lukwago.

The Uganda Law Society said Karua was stopped on arrival and sent back without any explanation from immigration authorities. Reporting also said she was traveling with Law Society of Kenya president Charles Kanjama, who was allowed into the country, underscoring how selective the denial appeared to be. No public reason was given for the decision.

The timing made the episode especially sensitive. Local reporting said the denial came just minutes before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Makindye was due to deliver a ruling on Lukwago’s bail application. Lukwago, the Kampala politician and lawyer, is facing a charge of misprision of treason, and Karua had gone to Uganda as part of the legal effort surrounding his case.

Karua’s blocked entry also landed in the middle of the wider legal fight over Besigye and Lutale, both of whom are facing treason-related proceedings in Uganda. Karua has been widely described as Besigye’s lead counsel, and the case has drawn sustained attention from rights groups and regional legal organizations because of what it says about the treatment of opposition figures under President Yoweri Museveni’s government.

The broader backdrop is already fraught. Reporting has said Besigye and Lutale contend that their prosecution followed an alleged abduction from Kenya in November 2024 and a forced return to Uganda. Their case failed to begin on June 11 after they boycotted proceedings, and defense lawyers have raised concerns about attorney-client privilege as the treason trial moves through Ugandan courts.

For Uganda, blocking Karua risks deepening criticism that the state is tightening control over politically charged cases and insulating them from outside scrutiny. For the region, the episode sends a sharper message: access to courtrooms can be as politically contested as access to ballot boxes, and the space for legal and civic scrutiny is narrowing across borders.