Peoples Liberation Party leader and Senior Counsel Martha Karua has accused Ugandan authorities of unlawfully deporting her and violating regional laws after she was denied entry despite holding a special licence to practice law in Uganda.
Speaking on NTV on Tuesday, Karua said she had initially cleared by immigration and was waiting for colleagues at the airport before officials recalled her over what they described as an alert in the system.
"The security officer who had cleared me came looking for me and said she had been advised that she ignored notes that were an alert," she said.
The PLP leader said she was taken through several levels of immigration officials before a principal migration officer informed staff that the system indicated "entry prohibited".
Karua said she was then moved between offices and asked to complete forms containing information already available in her passport.
"They said they wanted to interrogate me. I told them I will not cooperate. They have not told me why they are holding me," she said. "I know the Constitution and the laws of Uganda. I want to be told what the problem is."
The senior counsel further alleged that immigration officials confiscated two of her phones and held them for more than three hours while she remained under supervision before boarding a return flight.
"So I ask, what gives you the right to take my property? What law are you using?" she said.
Karua claimed that by the time the phones were returned, she declined to receive them, saying she feared the devices may have been accessed.
"I told them they are contaminated. I will not touch them," she said.
She also questioned the basis of a decision declaring her persona non grata, saying no explanation was given.
"Persona non grata is a decision. Where are the reasons for the decision? They have none, because they offered none," she said.
Karua linked the incident to her legal involvement in matters concerning Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye, saying she had been representing him under a special licence granted in Uganda since January 2025.
"We had been warned two months ago that the authorities in Uganda do not want Martha Karua and Erias Lukwago in the Besigye case," she alleged.
Describing the developments as politically motivated, Karua said: "This is lawfare, and it is political persecution."
This comes months after she had previously faced a similar ordeal in Tanzania in May 2025 where she was deported from after being detained for several hours at Julius Nyerere International Airport while travelling to observe proceedings involving Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu.