Law Society

The Uganda Law Society, a professional body that represents the country's lawyers, has said it will "challenge the constitutionality" of the amendment.

Boniface Mwabukusi, the president of the Tanganyika Law Society, the body representing lawyers in mainland Tanzania, said on Wednesday that they had learnt that the two were being held by the immigration department.

In a statement, the Uganda Law Society has called for the immediate release of the bodyguard, saying his ordeal was not an isolated case but "part of a systematic campaign to silence dissent and crush the aspirations of people yearning for freedom".

Boniface Mwabukusi, president of the Tanganyika Law Society, who visited the priest in hospital, said it had been "a brutal attack with the intent to take his life".

The Law Society of England and Wales also raised concerns that the target for appeal decisions would be "unworkable" in practice as the justice system is already struggling to cope with current demand.