Ugandan Muslims sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism
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Friday August 25, 2017 - 15:40:12 in News In English by Dahir Alasow
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WAAGACUSUB:- This week’s conviction is the latest in a series of cases where Muslims have been blamed for the murders of officials and Islamic clerics.
A prominent Muslim leader and three associates have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Uganda on terrorism charges.
Sheikh Mohammad Yunus Kamoga, who heads the Tabliq group, and 13 others were arrested and charged with terrorism and the murder of other Islamic group leaders, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.
Two of the arrested received jail terms of 30 years each while six were acquitted of murder by the High Court in the capital Kampala after prosecutors failed to place any of them at the scene of the murders.
This week’s conviction is the latest in a series of cases where Muslims have been blamed for the murders of officials and Islamic clerics.
The cases include the murders of nine Muslim clerics since 2012; of Joan Kagezi, a prosecutor working on the 2010 Kampala bombings case, in March 2015; of an army officer in November 2016 who had defected from a Ugandan-led rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; and of a prominent policeman in March.
A prominent Muslim leader and three associates have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Uganda on terrorism charges.
Sheikh Mohammad Yunus Kamoga, who heads the Tabliq group, and 13 others were arrested and charged with terrorism and the murder of other Islamic group leaders, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.
Two of the arrested received jail terms of 30 years each while six were acquitted of murder by the High Court in the capital Kampala after prosecutors failed to place any of them at the scene of the murders.
This week’s conviction is the latest in a series of cases where Muslims have been blamed for the murders of officials and Islamic clerics.
The cases include the murders of nine Muslim clerics since 2012; of Joan Kagezi, a prosecutor working on the 2010 Kampala bombings case, in March 2015; of an army officer in November 2016 who had defected from a Ugandan-led rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; and of a prominent policeman in March.
Motorbike-riding assassins were responsible for shooting dead the victims, following which Muslims suspects were rounded up.
Following a three-and-a-half-hour judgment over Kamoga and his associates, Justice Muhanguzi stated that despite there being no proof of the convicted killing anyone, they had used threatening leaflets and loudspeakers to intimidate rivals.
Those threats amounted to terrorism against the entire community, he ruled.
"Death threats were delivered by word of mouth and on loudspeakers, hence it was indiscriminate,” Muhanguzi said.
However, a spokesman for Tabliq, Siraje Nsambu, said the charges were trumped up. He denounced the ruling against them as "purely political”.
Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo responded to the allegation, dismissing claims that Muslims were being unfairly targeted.
"Uganda has a very long standing record of having no political, religious or racial persecution,” he said.
"There is no reason whatsoever why the government of Uganda should target those Muslim cliques.”
About 13 percent of Uganda’s 35 million population is Muslim.
The Ugandan authorities have cracked down hard on suspected terrorists following deadly suicide bombings in Kampala in 2010 carried out by the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab rebel group in their first attack outside of Somalia.
At least 74 people died in those attacks.
Following a three-and-a-half-hour judgment over Kamoga and his associates, Justice Muhanguzi stated that despite there being no proof of the convicted killing anyone, they had used threatening leaflets and loudspeakers to intimidate rivals.
Those threats amounted to terrorism against the entire community, he ruled.
"Death threats were delivered by word of mouth and on loudspeakers, hence it was indiscriminate,” Muhanguzi said.
However, a spokesman for Tabliq, Siraje Nsambu, said the charges were trumped up. He denounced the ruling against them as "purely political”.
Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo responded to the allegation, dismissing claims that Muslims were being unfairly targeted.
"Uganda has a very long standing record of having no political, religious or racial persecution,” he said.
"There is no reason whatsoever why the government of Uganda should target those Muslim cliques.”
About 13 percent of Uganda’s 35 million population is Muslim.
The Ugandan authorities have cracked down hard on suspected terrorists following deadly suicide bombings in Kampala in 2010 carried out by the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab rebel group in their first attack outside of Somalia.
At least 74 people died in those attacks.
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Ugandan Muslims sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism
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