Makerere University students charged with holding an unlawful procession have complained that the terms set by court for their bail are harsh.

The four – Edmund Kahigi, Roy Rugumayo, Steven Ariho and Hannington Magarura – were arrested at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s court on May 10 where they staged a protest demanding the release of Makerere University researcher Dr Stella Nyanzi.

Dr Nyanzi is out of Luzira Prison on bail. She is charged with cyber harassment and offensive communication relating to her Facebook posts. In one of such posts, Dr Nyanzi referred to Uganda’s three-decade ruler Yoweri Museveni as “a pair of buttocks”.

The students were released on a non-cash bail of Shs 10m on May 24 by Buganda Road Court Grade One Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu, the, granted each of the four a non-cash bail of Shs 10m, and set the same amount for their sureties. The magistrate also confiscated the sureties’ identity cards.

But the four students have petitioned the High court over the “tough terms”.

Through Isaac Kimaze Ssemakadde of the Center for Legal Aid, the four students argue that “in setting the impugned bail conditions, the presiding magistrate [Kamasanyu] failed to give adequate consideration to our lack of financial capability to pay the penalty entailed in the recognizance. In so doing, she disproportionately impaired a bundle of our constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms.”

They also claimed that their sureties have been threatened to back off the case. Consequently, they argue that such huge financial bail requirements hinder activism and freedom of expression.

“It will also send a wrong message to the public that being a student and political activist exposes you and your sureties to disproportionate penalties. This will deter many students with ostensibly unpopular political views from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.”