It might take up to four years before Al-Amin Kimathi and eight other Kenyans detained in Uganda over alleged involvement in the July 2010 Kampala bombings that killed at least 76 people are tried in a court of law, their lawyer has said.
Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, a Uganda advocate representing the suspects said that they will be very lucky if their trial comes up in court before the end of this year.
“With election petitions going on and several high profile cases in progress coupled with the issue of limited judges, it is not possible for the cases of Al-Amin [Kimathi] and the co-accused to be heard this year,” said Mr. Rwakafuuzi. He further added that under Ugandan law, election petitions are always given priority over all other cases in court. He however expressed confidence in the Ugandan justice system and said that his clients will soon be free people.
Mr. Rwafakuuzi made these remarks on the sidelines of a workshop, in a Nairobi hotel, on the importance of criminal justice and human rights based responses to terrorism in East Africa. The two-day workshop is organized by the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists to find out ways of fighting terrorism without infringement of fundamental human rights.
Addressing participants at the forum, ICJ Kenya executive director George Kegoro voiced concern that the Kenyan government was conspiring with Ugandan authorities to deny people their basic rights. Mr. Kegoro said that responses to acts of terrorism in the east African region have not only been piece-meal but also discriminatory. He further described Mr. Kimathi as a human rights defender and not a terrorist.
The workshop, funded by the governments of Netherlands and Norway, however attracted very little participation from the Kenyan government s all those officials invited failed to turn up.
Mr. Kimathi is the founder and executive director of the Muslim Human Rights Forum. He was arrested, together with lawyer Mbugua Mureithi, during a September 15 visit to Uganda where they intended to observe the cases of other Kenyans charged with the Kampala bombings.
Mr. Mureithi was released and deported four days later but Mr. Kimathi was charged with murder and terrorism related to the twin bombings in July that targeted football supporters watching the World Cup Final. The prosecution alleged that Kimathi provided cash used to rent a safe house in Kampala for one of the bombers before the attacks.
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