Lawyers petition human rights commission over killings of alleged terror suspects

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Human rights lawyers have petitioned the Uganda Human Rights Commission-UHRC over extrajudicial killings of terror suspects.

The lawyers under their umbrella, the Uganda Muslim Lawyers Association, Muslim Center for Justice and Law, and Network for Public Interest Law-NEPTIL, want the commission to open and conduct investigations, hear, make orders and issue a report about the alleged extra-judicial killing of citizens by security agencies.

Ali Kankaka, the President of Uganda Muslim Lawyers Association says security should be held accountable for the killing of suspects in their custody. Recently, following the Kampala city twin bombings, security personnel killed a Muslim cleric Sheikh Abbas Kirevu for his alleged links to the Allied Democratic Force-ADF rebels.

But Kankaka says that accounts from family members indicate that Sheikh Kirevu was arrested and handcuffed, his wives taken on a pickup truck before security shot him dead under the watch of his children. Kankaka says that if this indeed happened, security cannot perform the role of arresting officer, investigator, prosecutor, judge, and executioner.

Days after the killing of Sheikh Kirevu, security personnel killed four alleged ADF rebels in Ntoroko district as they attempted to flee to the Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC.

Kankaka says the practice of killing suspects is a violation of Article 22 (1) of the Constitution which provides that no person shall be deprived of life intentionally except in the execution of a sentence in a fair trial by a competent jurisdiction and sentenced.

Following the recent twin bombings, security released names of alleged terrorism suspects arrested while trying to sneak out of the country to go to DRC.

Umar Nyanzi, President of Muslim Centre for Justice and Law says acts of victimizing Islam and Muslims should stop and the government deals with criminal activities. He says the government should investigate all acts of terrorism, prosecute and convict those found guilty of such acts to give confidence to the public that action is being taken.

The Chairperson of the UHRC, Mariam Wangadya received the petition and promised that the commission would conduct investigations into the killings. She says that already, they have received some complaints which they all shall investigate.

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