Uganda denies Martha Karua entry as Besigye trial tensions grow

Uganda blocked Kenyan lawyer Martha Karua from entering the country on Monday at Entebbe International Airport and sent her back to Kenya, a move that immediately sharpened questions about whether Kizza Besigye’s treason case is being handled on fair and open legal ground. The Uganda Law Society said Karua was traveling to Kampala with Law Society of Kenya president Charles Kanjama and other lawyers, but while Kanjama and the rest of the delegation were cleared, Karua was singled out and turned away without explanation.

The timing made the decision harder to separate from the politics around the case. The Uganda Law Society said the denial came just minutes before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Makindye was due to rule on the bail application of Erias Lukwago, who faces a separate charge of misprision of treason. Karua had gone to Uganda to support the defense team for Besigye and Hajj Obeid Lutale, whose own treason case has already drawn regional scrutiny after both men were repatriated from Nairobi and later arraigned before a military court.

Karua’s exclusion also revived an earlier battle over who gets to practice and argue in Uganda’s courts. On December 6, 2024, the Uganda Law Council rejected her application for a special practising certificate, a decision the Uganda Law Society and East African Law Society condemned as damaging to regional integration and to standards governing the legal profession. The Law Society of Kenya went further at the time, threatening reciprocal restrictions on Ugandan advocates seeking to practice in Kenya.

Uganda Law Society deputy president Antony Asiimwe said immigration authorities gave no justification for Karua’s removal. Karua later said on social media that she had been told to return to Kenya immediately. The latest confrontation adds pressure on Ugandan authorities already facing questions over the handling of Besigye’s detention, the use of military courts in political cases, and the treatment of outside counsel who seek to participate in high-stakes opposition defense work.

For Besigye’s legal team, the episode suggests that access to counsel may still depend as much on political discretion as on law. For East Africa’s legal community, it is another test of whether cross-border practice rights and regional democratic norms can withstand the demands of a politically charged treason trial.