HRF Condemns Rwanda’s Song Censorship, Uganda Jails Praise Aloikin, UN Documents Nicaragua Crimes, and more.

HRF condemns the arbitrary censorship imposed by Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame’s regime on the song #RekaMbeho (“Let Me Live”), expressing popular backlash of young Rwandans toward a regime crackdown on purported public indecency.

The song — a collaboration of six of Rwanda’s biggest musicians Riderman Riderzo, Juno Kizigenza, Ish Kevin, Bulldogg, Papa Cyangwe, and The Unit — was released on Sept. 14. Since then, however, #RekaMbeho has disappeared from the artists’ social media accounts and music streaming platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Audiomack. Rwandan authorities have not publicly commented on the song or confirmed or denied reports that some of the artists were summoned by police for questioning.

The song’s lyrics include lines such as “You’re always checking on us. Just let me be. Let me be free,” and “You gave yourself the job of leading us, but you are misleading us. You tell me what to eat, what to drink and how I should live. I choose to live, but you choose to control me.” It criticizes a 2025 Kagame speech in which the dictator expressed contempt for Rwandans.

The song appears to be part of public backlash against an unpopular campaign that the regime launched in August to discipline young people against “indecent behaviour.” Police have carried out arrests and raids on private parties and imposed strict closing times on bars, nightclubs, and concert venues.

HRF condemns the abduction and subsequent imprisonment of award-winning Ugandan human rights activist and HRF #FreedomFellow Praise Aloikin over a social media video. In the video, she sharply criticized Uganda’s military chief and erratic son of the dictator Yoweri Museveni. HRF believes Aloikin said out loud what other Ugandans are too afraid to say and joins calls to #FreePraiseAloikin and for charges against her to be dropped.

On Sept. 26, police lured Aloikin to Namungoona Police Station with a baseless summons over a made-up matter, then extrajudicially handed her over to soldiers reporting directly to the dictator’s son. She was thrown into a vehicle, driven to an unknown location, beaten, and threatened with torture over a Sept. 21 TikTok video in which she called Gen. Muhoozi Kainerubaga a “cabbage” and a “political nepo baby” who abuses power handed to him by his father to torture opponents.

The soldiers received an order calling them off, but instead dumped Aloikin at Kampala Police Station. She was held incommunicado while police officers pressured her to apologize to the dictator’s son and to pledge never to criticize him. On Sept. 28, police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke announced that Aloikin would be taken to court for having “knowingly misused her digital handle and offended.”

The same day, the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Court arraigned Aloikin on charges of “illegal use of another person’s SIM card” and remanded her to prison until Oct. 14. Aloikin pleaded not guilty, with her friends pointing out that the SIM card was her mother’s. Aloikin, a 2025 recipient of the EU Human Rights Defenders award, was previously detained in July 2024 for leading a peaceful protest against public corruption.