Muslims protest over renditioning of Kampala bombing suspect

By CYRUS OMBATI

A Muslim human rights organisation has protested the arrest and renditioning of another Kenyan who was arrested at the weekend in connection with last month’s Kampala bombing, which killed 76 people as they watched the World Cup final.

Mohamed Abdul Hamid was arrested from his Nairobi’s South C house in an operation mounted by tens of hooded police led by detectives from Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

The Muslim Human Rights Forum boss Al-amin Kimathi said it was wrong for Kenya to rendition Hamid to Kampala whereas there are local courts that can handle him if he is a suspect.

"Why did they rendition him when we have institutions here that can handle him? We are meeting to chart the way forward," said Kimathi.

Police injustice

Kimathi claimed Hamid was involved in the incident because he fought against police injustices.

Hamid is a Muslim youth leader in Nairobi and had been as an agent for transporting hundreds of Muslims to the Muslim pilgrims to Mecca.

Hamid who was described as humble and generous also preached Islamic teachings at the Jamia Mosque, Nairobi.

He lived in Kibera before moving to South C where he stayed with his wife.

Hours after his arrest, he was renditioned to Uganda by road by the same detectives where he is expected to be enjoined with other Kenyans already facing charges of murder.

The arrest came three days after three Ugandans who were arrested in Mombasa over the same crime confessed planning and executing the same.

Sources said the detectives were certain the suspect was involved in the bombing in planning and that was why he was driven to Uganda.

Four arrested so far

The weekend arrest brought to four, the number of Kenyans arrested in connection with the bombings in Kampala.

Idris Magondu, 42, Hussein Hassan Agad, 27, and Muhammed Aden Addow, 25, were charged with 89 offences – three counts of terrorism, 76 counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder and remanded to Luzira Prison until August 27.

The three Ugandans who have confessed participating in planning and executing the bombings were arrested in Mombasa last week and later flown out in a chartered plane.

Anti-terrorism Police Unit detectives said the arrests came after almost a month of thorough investigations that involved various agencies.

"There is evidence they were involved in the bombings and that is why we decided to take the Kenyan to Uganda to face charges there," said a senior source privy to the incident.

Details have since emerged how the Kenyans were nabbed in an operation that took three weeks to be complete.

A mobile phone found alongside an unexploded suicide vest led police to the suspects.

The mobile phone could have been used to set off the explosive device remotely, police said.

Investigators were able to discern records related to calls made or received on the phone using its serial number.

　

Ugandan Inspector General

The discovery is believed to have forced Ugandan Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura to visit Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere in Nairobi last month before the arrests were made.

Police picked the three Kenyans on July 26 from Mlolongo and Kawangware estates in Nairobi, and handed them over to Ugandan authorities on July 28.

Detectives had tried to arrest the three after establishing that they were in Kenya but they made little headway partly because one of the suspects, Magondu, whose mobile phone was being tracked, had temporarily stopped using it.

But on July 25, Magondu used the same phone to call the customer service of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) to know his electricity bill.

Sources said US’ FBI, Interpol and detectives from CID in Nairobi interrogated the trio at an undisclosed location before handing them over.

Some of the suspects, together with the three who were arrested in Mombasa, had crossed into Uganda on July 9, two days before the bomb blasts, using a bus service