PLP party leader Martha Karua was denied entry into Uganda and ordered to return to Kenya after arriving at Entebbe International Airport.
Karua, who leads the legal team representing Kizza Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya, had flown into Uganda on Monday, June 22, to join a team of lawyers representing Erias Lukwago during his bail hearing at the Chief Magistrate's Court in Makindye.
Speaking about the development, Uganda Law Society Deputy President Antony Asiimwe said officials had initially expected to receive the entire Kenyan legal delegation.
"We came to receive the team from Kenya but when we reached the airport, we were made to understand that only two members of the team were allowed," he said.
However, Asiimwe said Karua was singled out and denied entry without any explanation from immigration authorities.
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"Senior Counsel Martha Karua was not allowed to enter the country and she is being deported. No reason was given for the denial of her entry. They just told her she can't enter Uganda," he added.
Karua's colleagues, including Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Charles Kanjama, were allowed into the country, while she was turned away.
Lukwago, a prominent constitutional lawyer and opposition figure in Uganda, is facing charges of misprision of treason.
He was remanded to Luzira Prison last week after prosecutors alleged that he failed to disclose information relating to an alleged treasonous plot involving Besigye.
Notably, this comes a year after Karua was denied entry into Tanzania and subsequently deported to Kenya.
In a statement on Sunday, May 18, 2025, she said her passport was seized, and kept waiting alongside her colleagues, Gloria Kimani and Lynn Ngugi.
"The immigration officer referred my passport to the supervisor, who kept me waiting for an hour as she consulted her superiors. I am concerned that as a citizen of the East African Community (EAC)," she said.
Karua said the authorities did not explain the reason behind the detention and the seizure of the travel documents.
"The supervisor has now informed us that our entry to Tanzania has been denied; no reasons given," she said.
On the other hand, Mutunga, alongside activists Hussein Khalid of Haki Africa and Hanifa Adan, were on Monday, May 19, denied entry into Tanzania.
In a series of social media posts, Khalid said they had traveled to Tanzania as a show of solidarity with local lawyers and human rights defenders.
"Willy Mutunga, Hanifa Adan, and I have been detained at Julius Nyerere Airport, Dar es Salaam, as we came in for the observance of Tundu Lissu’s case.
"The trip was in solidarity with Tanzanian lawyers and human rights defenders. They have not given reasons for the detention," he said in one of his updates.
According to Khalid, the three were escorted to an interrogation room inside the airport and told to wait for a senior officer.
"Following our detention, we’ve been brought to the interrogation room. They’ve told us to wait here for their senior officer – I guess the chief interrogator! We still don’t have our passports, nor do we know why we’re being detained," he added.
The trio was deported that evening aboard a Kenya Airways flight.
