Assailants armed with iron bars beat Ssentongo as he was on his way to work in Nantabuliriwa in Mukono district, central Uganda, around 5 a.m., local journalists and the Ugandan Human Rights Journalist Network reported. The assailants apparently dragged him into a nearby cassava field.
Ssentongo, 29, died of his injuries before he could receive treatment at Mulago Hospital. Colleagues said Ssentongo's personal belongings, including cell phone and wallet, were left intact.
Ssentongo presented a daily 7 a.m. news broadcast at Kireka-based Prime Radio, the station's news editor, Katangole Kiwanuka, told CPJ. Although Prime Radio is a Seventh-Day Adventist private station with no political leanings, Kiwanuka said, Ssentongo would occasionally discuss politics over the air. Ssentongo, a news presenter at Prime Radio for two years, was also campaigning to become a Ggoma Sub-County council member on the ticket of the opposition Democratic Party. Ssentongo worked part-time for the Mukono High Court as well, local journalists told CPJ.