Prominent human rights activist and lawyer Sarah Bireete was detained by Ugandan police on Tuesday after security forces surrounded her home in Kampala.
Police confirmed Bireete, an outspoken government critic and head of the Centre for Constitutional Governance, is in their custody and will be brought to court, though they did not specify any charges.
Her arrest is part of what critics, including the UN, describe as an intensifying government crackdown on dissent ahead of the January 15 general election, which pits long-serving President Yoweri Museveni against pop-star-turned-politician Bobi Wine.
Wine’s party claims hundreds of its supporters have been detained this year in a campaign of intimidation, and another major opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, has been imprisoned for over a year on treason charges.
