Ugandan pop star-turned-MP Bobi Wine has returned home after receiving medical treatment in the US for injuries he says he suffered in custody.
“We must get our freedom or we will die trying,” he told reporters.
Police escorted him there from the airport – a move which he said was against his wishes.
The BBC’s Fergal Keane accompanied him into his home, where the MP said he had “come back to fight”.
Bobi Wine, 36, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was charged with treason alongside 32 other politicians following campaign violence during a by-election in August.
His treatment by Ugandan authorities has been condemned by the EU, UK and US – earlier this week a group of US Senators warned that democracy in Uganda was “backsliding”.
Some of music’s biggest names, including Angelique Kidjo, Chris Martin and Damon Albarn, signed a petition for the MP’s release when he was in detention last month.
Some see Bobi Wine’s popularity as sign of a generational rift between Uganda’s young population and President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.
Police earlier arrested several people who had been trying to reach Entebbe Airport to welcome the politician back.
The police later issued a statement thanking Bobi Wine for co-operating with officers who escorted him home from the airport.
The MP and other politicians were charged in August after stones were allegedly thrown at President Yoweri Museveni’s convoy. They deny the charges.
Uganda’s army has rejected allegations that the MP was tortured while in their custody.
The 36-year-old MP stood and won as an independent candidate in a by-election last year in Kyadondo East, central Uganda.
The self-declared “ghetto president” told the BBC after his win that he represented a new generation: “I am going to stand up for issues. I’m here to give young people confidence,” he said.
