Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Ugandan authorities to investigate the detention and subsequent deportation of prominent Kenyan human rights lawyer Martha Karua, which the organization described as politically motivated.

Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, Tigere Chagutah, stated: “Martha Karua’s detention and subsequent deportation are unlawful and outrageous. They are not only a blatant violation of the East Africa Community Treaty, but also a shameless attempt to suppress trial observation which is central to the transparency of court processes.”

Martha Karua is Kenya’s former justice minister and a renowned human rights lawyer. Karua entered Uganda to attend the court hearing of Ugandan lawyer Erias Lukwago, who was charged with misprision of treason, a legal offense that occurs when an individual is aware of treasonous activity being carried out but purposefully conceals this information. Rights organizations have pushed back against the charges brought against Lukwago, stating that they were only brought to prevent him from representing Ugandan opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye, who is facing his own treason trial.

In late 2024, Besigye was abducted and later resurfaced at a military court in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, where he was first charged with unlawfully possessing weaponry. Since then, he has been denied bail, subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, and has been denied access to legal representation. In early 2025, his lawyer was prevented from accessing the part of the military court reserved for defendants’ lawyers, a move that law societies have condemned as violating Article 14(3)(d) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

According to the Ugandan Law Society, Karua’s deportation, despite her entering the country legally, exemplifies how political intervention results in systemic threats against lawyers trying to uphold the rule of law.