20110507
reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) - The camera never lies, except in Uganda. At least, that's the government's position.

An extraordinary row has broken out in the east African country over media photographs and video footage of the arrest of its most popular opposition leader Kizza Besigye last week.

Ministers insist some images are "concoctions". But the claim is drawing derision, particularly from those who witnessed the incident.

The violent arrest provoked riots the following day and there are fears the new dispute could heighten tension over the government's handling of protests about high prices.

"We shall investigate your newspaper and the source of those photographs because we don't believe they are genuine," State Minister for Internal Affairs Matia Kasaija told the independent Daily Monitor newspaper after it published photos of the arrest.

It is not unusual for Besigye, who has now lost three elections to warhorse President Yoweri Museveni, to be arrested. He had already been detained three times in April for leading "walk to work" protests against rising fuel and food prices.

This arrest was different. Men in plainclothes descended on his car and smashed in two windows -- one with a hammer and one with a pistol. They soaked him with pepper spray, dragged him out and unceremoniously hauled him onto a pickup truck.

The episode was watched by several Reuters witnesses among a large crowd of foreign and local journalists -- some with still cameras and others recording video footage.