Uganda: US couple charged over torture of foster son

An American couple has been charged in Uganda with "aggravated torture" of their 10-year-old adopted son, Ugandan police said on Tuesday.

The man and woman, both 32, were charged on Friday and taken to Luzira Prison, a high-security prison facility on the outskirts of the capital Kampala, police said in a statement.

According to the indictment, the couple "constantly tortured" the child, who attended a facility for people with disabilities, between 2020 and 2022.

Authorities were notified by neighbours.

During a raid on the couple's home, police found CCTV footage showing the child had been forced to squat in an ' awkward position', given only cold food and forced to sleep on a "wooden platform, without mattress or bedding".

The boy is one of the couple's three adopted children, who arrived in Uganda in 2017 to volunteer at a US-based nonprofit in the town of Jinja before moving to Naguru, an upmarket suburb of Kampala, to work in a start-up.

The US government imposed sanctions in 2020 against an adoption ring that placed Ugandan children who were not orphans with families in the United States.