Kampala. Two out of the four suspects in the murder of former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi, who were rearrested after court released them on bail, were yesterday charged with fresh offences of terrorism.
Mr Ahmed Senfuka and Mr Umar Maganda appeared before Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court and the presiding magistrate Noah Sajjabi read them the new charges in absence of their lawyer and the state prosecutor.
They were brought to court a few days after High Court Judge Stephen Musota ordered government, the Commandant of the Police Special Investigations Unit at Kireka and Nalufenya Police Station to produce the four suspects today.
The suspects, through their lawyers Ms Anthony Wameli and Mr Geoffrey Turyamusiima, had filed an application of habeas corpus, saying their clients were being held in violation of their constitutional rights.
A habeas corpus application is made in court seeking a person under detention to be brought before a judge or magistrate, especially to secure that person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown to justify their continued incarceration.
The other two suspects who had been rearrested are: Ibrahim Khisa and Majid Ojegere. They were rearrested on November 7 by armed security personnel shortly after leaving Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court which had released them on bail on murder charges.
Last Friday, Justice Musota issued the order to produce the suspects in court after the accused’s relatives complained that they had spent two weeks without knowing their whereabouts.
However, their lawyer Mr Wameli told Daily Monitor by telephone later yesterday that Khisa and Ojegere, whose whereabouts had been reported unknown, had been released on bail. He did not explain when or where they were released.
Senfuka and Maganda will join their three co-accused; Ali Mugoya, Hibwagi Sinani and Abdul Kaala who are already on remand at Luzira prison over the new terrorism charges.
In the new charges, it is alleged that the trio, and others still at large, operating in various places in Uganda and DR Congo between 2006 and 2007 belonged to a terrorist group Allied Democratic Forces listed in the second schedule to the Anti-Terrorism Act 2002.
“This court has no jurisdiction to hear your case; it can only be tried in the High Court. I am only reading the new charge to you,” Mr Sajjabi told the suspects and further remanded them until December 7 for mention of their case.
