The US has imposed financial sanctions on Johnson Byabashaija, the commissioner general of prisons, in a review and expansion of its visa restriction policy targeting Ugandan officials it says are complicit in human rights abuses.
The US Treasury department said on Friday that Mr Byabashaija was “the leader of an entity that has engaged in serious human rights abuses,” adding that Uganda Prisons Service employees have tortured its prisoners, including government critics and LGBTQI+ (non-heterosexual) people.
It added that during Byabashaija’s tenure as head of prisons, dating back to 2005, “members of vulnerable groups… have been beaten and held without access to legal counsel. For example, in a 2020 case, the UPS denied a group of LGBTQI+ persons access to their lawyers and members of the group reportedly endured physical abuse, including a forced anal examination and scalding.”
The actions come less than a week after the State Department announced that it was expanding its visa restriction policy for Ugandan officials responsible for “flawed electoral processes, violence, and intimidation” during the 2021 elections to include officials responsible for policies that oppress LGBTQI+ people and other vulnerable populations.
Related: US warns companies of risks of doing business in Uganda
“Treasury’s targeted sanctions announced today and over the past year underscore the seriousness of our commitment to promoting accountability for human rights abuse and safeguarding the US financial system from those who commit these egregious acts,” said US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen.
The sanctions by the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) target 20 individuals in nine countries, including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The State Department’s counter-terrorism office also sanctioned two ADF (ISIS-DRC) commanders: Mohammed Ali Nkalubo, deputy to the ADF’s overall leader and a Ugandan national, and Hassan Aliyani, a Tanzanian national who the US says planned the June attack on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Kasese.
“As a result of today’s actions, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entity that is directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 per cent or more owned by one or more blocked persons is also blocked,” the department said in a statement.
US entities and individuals are also prohibited from engaging in transactions with the sanctioned persons, unless otherwise authorised by the department.
The department added, using the Ugandan prison chief to drive the point home, that sanctioned officials can be removed from the list if their behaviour — or the behaviour of the organisations they lead — changes for the better.
“For example, the department of the Treasury notes recent attempts by the Uganda Prisons Service to implement human rights-related measures, but these measures fall short.
“Should Byabashaija implement effective measures to eliminate torture and impunity, increase independent human rights monitoring, ban forced anal examinations and other forms of abuse used to target LGBTQI+ persons and others, ensure protections for vulnerable persons and groups, and improve overall prison conditions, the department of the Treasury will consider those to be changes of behaviour that would potentially result in his removal from the SDN List.”
Other Ugandans on the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons include Kale Kayihura, the former inspector general of police, sanctioned in 2019 for his role as police chief and involvement in corruption; Abel Kandiho, added in 2021 when he was commander of the military intelligence unit and accused of human rights violations; Patrick Ecobu, Dorah Mirembe, Moses Mukiibi, and Wilson Musalu Musene (deceased), who were added at the same time in 2020 for their involvement in an adoption scam (Mr Mukiibi is a judge, as was Mr Musene).
In addition, three gold trading companies, African Gold Refinery (AGR), Uganda Commercial Impex and Machanga Limited, have also been sanctioned for buying illicit gold from armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sanctions against AGR, by far the largest local exporter of refined gold, and its Belgian owner — Alain Goetz — were announced last year, while UCI and Machanga were added to the list in 2007.
In addition to the 20 individuals targeted by the Treasury department, the State Department announced visa restrictions on four individuals from Russia, Indonesia, and China.
The enforcement measures, announced two days before the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, also known as Human Rights Day, were taken in coordination with the United Kingdom and Canada, which also announced similar measures.
