Disturbing photos of women ‘tortured’ by police officers enforcing curfew at Ugandan border

An Uganda court has charged 10 police officers with "aggravated torture" for allegedly forcing dozens of women to rub mud on their genitals as punishment for breaking a coronavirus curfew, AFP reports.

The incident allegedly took place on 2 April in the northern town of Elegu, on the border with South Sudan, the day after a nighttime curfew took effect in the fight against COVID-19.

The police officers appeared before the court in nearby Gulu on Tuesday.

On Monday, police spokesperson Fred Enanga had announced a joint investigation with the army into the "alleged aggravated torture of several women and a few men who were being accused of flouting curfew orders and the ban on public spaces".

He said security forces had used a "heavy-handed approach" to disperse the 31 women, described by Uganda Radio Network as sex workers, and seven men.