- Organisation: The Drone Media
- Case: Detention
- Culprit: Ugandan authorities
- Country: Uganda
- City: Kampala
On May 27, the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Court in Kampala, the capital, charged Kareire and Magara with criminal defamation and ordered them to be detained until a bail hearing on June 17, according to a copy of the charge sheet, which CPJ reviewed, and a statement by the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-U), a local press rights group. The charge sheet alleges that, between October and November 2020, Kareire, managing editor of the privately owned news website The Drone Media, and Magara, managing editor of the privately owned news website The East African Watch, published articles that included defamatory claims about Dott Services Limited, a Ugandan infrastructure company. The journalists’ charge sheet cites an October 27 report by The East African Watch which alleged that Dott Services Limited had a poor work record and questioned a government decision to grant the company a road contract. The sheet also cites a second report about the company, which CPJ could not find in The Drone Media or The East African Watch. CPJ did find a November 5 report by The Drone Media quoting a legislator who made similar allegations about the company. An April 1 article published by The Drone Media said that Kareire had been summoned by police in connection to that November 5 report.