The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The five suspects, acquitted in the 2010 bombing trial, have been re-arresed over fresh allegations.
The five, Omar Awadhi Omar, Mohammad Hamid Suleiman alias Abu Zainab, Abubakaer Batemyeto, Dr Ismail Kalule and Yahaya Suleiman Mbuthia, while at Luzira Upper prisons, allegedly created documents and materials connected with preparations to facilitate, assist or engage co-conspirators to undertake terrorist acts .
DefenceCounsel CalebAlaka says that those acquitted y’day were forced onto a prison bus, taken to Luzira now unknown pic.twitter.com/dczWHzFqYs
— Michael O’Hagan (@micoh) May 27, 2016
They have today been charged over fresh allegations of terrorism and related conspiracies at the Chief Magistrates Court in Jinja .
According to a statement from the Police, “reinvestigation begun immediately after the hand written documents and related materials asking members to conduct hostile reconnaissance around security facilities and other vital installations, in preparation for violence, were seized and fresh evidence of the new plot that connected the suspects to the materials, recovered.”
The statement, signed by PRO CP Fred Enanga added that “police and sister security agencies continue to maintain vigilance to be ahead of threats of terrorism. We also encourage the public to always remain alert and report any suspicious activity to the police, other security personnel or local council officials for immediate attention. ”
Court last week handed down a life sentence for the mastermind of twin bombings targeting football fans in Kampala that killed 76 people.
The court also sentenced four accomplices to life behind bars for the 2010 suicide attacks, while two others received 50-year sentences.
Of the 13 men tried, seven were convicted of terrorism, murder and attempted murder. They came from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
The ringleader, Issa Ahmed Luyima, left Uganda the day before the blasts to evade arrest and threw the cellphone used to coordinate the attacks into a pit latrine but it was later found.
Five others were acquitted of those charges, while another was acquitted of lesser crimes.
The convicts now stand in the dock as Judge sums up his findings #KampalaAttackVerdictpic.twitter.com/C50NQyUcC4
— Michael O’Hagan (@micoh) May 27, 2016
The guilty all faced the death penalty but their lawyers pleaded for lighter sentences on the grounds that they were young and had been brainwashed.
Judge Alfonse Owiny-Dollo said: “I do not think that the death penalty would assuage the victims and give closure to the indelible pain that society has suffered.”
The attacks claimed by Somalia’s Al-Shebab jihadist group targeted fans watching the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain at a restaurant and at a rugby club in the Ugandan capital.
