How activist Collins Otieno was abducted, tortured and dumped on roadside

Human rights defender Collins Otieno is wheeled to Sanel Hospital Mlolongo for treatment after he was found dumped along thika road. [Benard Orwongo Standard]

Activist Collins Otieno lay on a hospital bed at Sanel Hospital, Mlolongo, staring blankly at the ceiling, visibly shaken and in agony as medics checked on him.

His left thigh was heavily bandaged, bearing injuries he says were inflicted during an ordeal that began with his abduction last Wednesday evening and ended with him being dumped yesterday dawn by the roadside along Thika Road.

Otieno spoke to The Sunday Standard from his hospital bed, struggling to piece together the events after he was allegedly abducted on Wednesday.

His account was punctuated by pauses as he recalled being beaten, tortured and interrogated by his captors.

“On Monday, we were demonstrating for Besigye and I was arrested together with three other people. We were taken to Central Police Station,” Otieno said, struggling to open his lips.

The following day, he said, they were taken to court, but delays in processing their cash bail saw them transferred to Industrial Area Prison on Tuesday.

“On Wednesday, we went back to Central to look for Mulinge Muteti. From there, we left at around 8pm and headed towards Riverside. I was wearing a T-shirt printed with Besigye’s name and a beret,” he recounted.

It was along the way, he said, that three men confronted him.

“Three people grabbed me and asked me why I was inciting others. I called another activist, but my phone went off, and they took it,” he said.

Otieno said a Probox vehicle arrived shortly afterwards and his ordeal took a darker turn.

“A Probox came and they put me inside. They covered my nose with a piece of cloth and I fell unconscious. That is where my memory becomes unclear. That is all I can remember. I do not know where they took me,” he said.

According to Otieno, his captors subjected him to severe physical assault. “They beat me all over my body. They stepped on me everywhere. They also burned me with a hot metal on my left thigh,” he said.

The activist said his abductors repeatedly questioned him about the financing of demonstrations. “They were asking me which Ugandan was giving us money to hold demonstrations,” Otieno said.

Vocal Africa's Executive Director Hussein Khalid said Otieno was found dumped along Thika Road at about 4am on Saturday by a boda boda rider, who took him to Rehema Hospital in Dwaraka, Kasarani.

“At Rehema, he was attended to and given emergency first aid. Following consultation with doctors, it was agreed that he be transferred to Sanel Hospital, where Comrade Muteti is also recuperating,” Khalid said.

Khalid said Otieno was in a severely weakened and disoriented state when he was found.

“It is very evident from what we have seen so far that Collins was severely tortured. He was starved and has burn injuries, which is what the doctors are treating presently,” he said.

Khalid accused the government of failing to protect human rights defenders and called for an end to what he described as a pattern of abductions and torture.

“We cannot continue in this manner as a country, where human rights defenders are being hunted, targeted and picked one by one, tortured and then dumped on roadsides,” he said.

He called on the authorities to protect activists and ensure those responsible are prosecuted.

“We are asking that the rights of human rights defenders be promoted and protected, and we call for justice. Those responsible for these atrocities must be arrested immediately and brought before a court of law to face justice,” Khalid said.

Otieno’s account comes amid heightened concern among human rights defenders over alleged abductions of activists, with colleagues saying the incidents have created fear among those involved in civic and political activities.

He was found just a day after his counterpart, Mulinge Muteti, who had been missing since Monday, was found abandoned in the Lukenya area on Friday.

The families of the two activists are "relieved" but demanding answers about who had forcefully disappeared their kin, even as Otieno and Muteti remain under medical care.