KAMPALA, Uganda — Prominent Ugandan journalist and human rights activist Agather Atuhaire has said she is now safe and back home after what she described as a distressing encounter with Dutch immigration officers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, an incident that has drawn criticism from the Human Rights Foundation (HRF).
In a statement posted on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday morning, Atuhaire said she was subjected to prolonged questioning at passport control, during which officers allegedly questioned the authenticity of her travel documents, causing delays that led her to miss her connecting flight.
She said the officers formed initial doubts about her passport before conducting what she described as a proper examination.
“Hi friends. I am well now and safely back home,” she wrote. “Immigration officers in Amsterdam looked at me and thought I can’t have a genuine passport. They hadn’t even opened it. Held me back for so long apparently ‘verifying’ my passport that I missed my flight.”
Atuhaire added that when she suggested officers review her travel history, including stamps and visas, she was told that such records could also be forged.
“When I told them to check the passport because it has stamps and visas, they said those can be forged too,” she said.
The journalist, who says she has transited through Schiphol Airport on multiple occasions, expressed surprise at the treatment, noting that her travel record could have been verified through standard immigration systems.
“I have passed through Schiphol airport over 10 times. If they had cared to look at the passport and checked my name in the system, whatever doubts they had would have been cleared without undue delay and anguish,” she wrote.
Atuhaire further alleged that the verification process was only completed after her original flight had departed, after which she was informed she would be rebooked on a flight scheduled for the following day.
“Anyway, they finished ‘verifying’ long after the plane had left and said I should be grateful they are getting me another ‘free flight,’ like they had found me stranded without a flight back home,” she said.
She also said she was left without adequate support during the delay, adding that she was told to either remain at the airport or make her own arrangements for accommodation for the night.
“When the ‘free flight’ they got me was 24 hours later, they told me to either wait at the airport or figure out where to spend the next 24 hours. No explanation. No remorse. No apology,” she said.
Atuhaire said the experience caused her significant emotional distress, describing what she termed a breakdown during the ordeal.
“I don’t know if it was the anger or anxiety that made it very difficult to breathe or even utter a word and caused me a breakdown,” she wrote.
She described the incident as deeply troubling and suggested it reflected racial profiling.
“It is very unfortunate that in 2026 there are people that still simply look at others and assume they are fraudsters or something,” she said.
“Luckily, good friends came to my rescue and also redeemed the reputation of the Dutch just a bit,” she added.
Atuhaire confirmed that a formal complaint had been filed and that the matter had been raised through multiple channels.
“We have already filed a complaint and raised the issue in many fora. I hope that at the very least they never racially profile any other person like that again,” she said.
The Human Rights Foundation condemned the incident, describing it as an example of poor treatment by Dutch immigration authorities and raising concerns about racial profiling in border screening procedures.
According to HRF, Atuhaire had been travelling from Oslo, Norway, after attending the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum organised by the foundation, en route to Nairobi via Amsterdam when she was stopped at passport control following a delayed KLM flight.
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The organisation alleged that immigration officers confiscated her passport without proper examination before initiating verification procedures, despite her attempt to demonstrate her travel history through multiple prior entries via Schiphol.
HRF said that after approximately 30 minutes, Atuhaire was cleared and later rebooked on a flight departing 24 hours later, without apology or accommodation.
The foundation further stated that the incident triggered emotional distress linked to a previous alleged abduction and torture experience in Tanzania in May 2025.
HRF has called for a formal investigation into the matter, urging both Dutch immigration authorities and KLM to issue an apology and provide compensation for the distress caused.
As of publication time, neither Dutch authorities nor KLM had issued a public response to the allegations.
