{"id":2824,"date":"2022-01-28T17:02:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=2824"},"modified":"2022-01-28T17:02:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:02:29","slug":"extrajudicial-killing-of-muslim-cleric-after-kampala-bombings-sparks-fury-in-uganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=2824","title":{"rendered":"Extrajudicial Killing Of Muslim Cleric After Kampala Bombings Sparks Fury In Uganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span>\u00a0John Semakula<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A growing list of Muslims arrested and killed without trials in Ugandan anti-terrorism security operations, recently including a respected sheikh, has stirred anger and calls for fair prosecution of suspects rather than shootings on site.<\/p>\n

Sheikh Mohammad Kirevu was shot and killed by Ugandan police outside his home on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuspects should be heard before they are convicted and sentenced,\u201d said Sheikh Muhammad Ali Waiswa from the\u00a0Uganda Muslim Supreme Council,<\/a>\u00a0the umbrella body for Muslims in the country.<\/p>\n

The police insist they are not targeting Muslims, but terrorists. In the past two months, three different suicide bombings in Uganda killed nine people and injured many more. Ugandan Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said recently that the police are dealing with a special type of criminal that requires special force to subdue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u00a0are not hiding anything from members of the public, why do you arrest and shoot someone who is a suspect?\u201d Sheikh Abdulkarim Kariddubi asked at the burial of Sheikh Mohammad Kirevu, who was shot and killed by police outside his house Nov. 17.<\/p>\n

Kirevu\u2019s sons told media that heavily armed government security forces surrounded their home in Nsangi, a township outside the Ugandan capital of Kampala. When they opened the door, their father was \u201cgrabbed, handcuffed and pulled out of the house,\u201d one son said.<\/p>\n

Enanga later told media that the sheikh was arrested but resisted handcuffs and attempted to escape while being escorted to the patrol car, \u201cwhich led to a shooting, killing him instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirevu was accused of recruiting members for sleeper cells of the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group, a local branch of the Islamic State group \u2014 designated a\u00a0terrorist organization<\/a>\u00a0by the U.S. State Department \u2014 which has recently claimed responsibility for bombings in Kampala.<\/p>\n

History of the ADF in Uganda<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Allied Democratic Forces<\/a> mainly operate in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but Ugandan security forces say the ADF has sleeper cells in the country.<\/p>\n

The most recent bombings that took place on Nov. 16 left seven people dead \u2014 including three suicide bombers \u2014 and 37 people injured. The twin bombs were detonated near the entrance to Kampala\u2019s Central Police Station at a building next to the\u00a0Ugandan Parliament.<\/a><\/p>\n

In October, two bombs went off in one week: one at a roadside pork eatery, claiming the life of a 24-year-old waitress, and the second on a bus in a town outside Kampala, claiming the life of a passenger who the police said was a suicide bomber.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time that the rebel outfit has caused tension in Uganda.<\/p>\n

From January to December 2001, the ADF detonated 30 explosives, killing 147 people. The group then retreated and reemerged in 2012, killing civilians, including sheikhs and other prominent people in Uganda. More than 15 Muslim clerics have lost their lives in the past decade in a manner the government attributes to the work of the ADF.<\/p>\n

Following the Nov. 16 twin bombings in Kampala, Ugandan security forces conducted operations that killed at least five people, including Kirevu. The other four were killed in a shootout as they tried to cross back into Uganda, security forces said.<\/p>\n

Security forces announced they are now hunting for another cleric, Suleiman Nsubuga, who they accuse of radicalizing youth and encouraging them to join terrorist cells.<\/p>\n

On June 1, Uganda\u2019s transport minister, Gen. Katumba Wamala, survived an assassination attempt with gunshot wounds, an attack security forces linked to the ADF. However, in a televised address four days after the Kampala twin bombings, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said the attack on the minister landed the ADF in a \u201ctrap.\u201d Museveni said 12 terrorists linked to the Katumba attack and recent bombings in Kampala had been killed, and 106 suspects had been detained.<\/p>\n

Uganda has since launched a military operation against the ADF in the Congo in retaliation for attacks in the country. Uganda\u2019s People\u2019s Defense Force late last month launched a joint air and artillery strike against ADF camps before sending in ground troops.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are dealing with a dangerous group,\u201d police spokesperson Enanga said. \u201cBecause they have been radicalized, they will do anything, including disarming our officers. It has happened before. They can do anything. So, you can imagine what our officers go through dealing with someone laden with explosives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uganda\u2019s Muslim council asks police to follow the law<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council condemned the latest violent acts in the country but asked security agencies to follow the law while arresting suspects.<\/p>\n

The leader of Muslims in Uganda,\u00a0Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje,<\/a>\u00a0called upon Muslim youth not to become recruits into violent activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commit to working together with other stakeholders in understanding the role of religion in preventing and countering violent extremism through the inter-faith collaboration,\u201d Mubajje wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim Semujju Nganda, a member of Uganda\u2019s Parliament, told\u00a0ReligionUnplugged.com<\/i>\u00a0that while he could not outright say that the government is targeting Muslims, he wishes to ask security agencies why all the suspects killed so far are Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment is panicking and that\u2019s why they are killing suspects,\u201d Nganda said. \u201cThey told us that the latest suspect to be killed, Sheikh Kirevu, was running away, but can someone be that stupid to run away from armed security when he is handcuffed and when his house has been surrounded?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mescharch Katusiimeh, a professor at\u00a0Kabale University<\/a>\u00a0in Uganda, said it is the killing of suspects that is raising suspicion among the people about the intention of the security forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis suspicion that Muslims are being selectively targeted is coming from the shooting and killing of suspects,\u201d Katusiimeh said.<\/p>\n

Human rights lawyers in Uganda have also expressed concern over the killing of suspects. Stephen Lwetutte, a human rights practitioner, said the killing of Kirevu is a hallmark of the ruling government.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 7, less than a month after the killing of Kirevu, the U.S. Treasury Department\u00a0issued financial sanctions<\/a>\u00a0on Uganda\u2019s chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho, over alleged human rights abuses committed under his watch.<\/p>\n

The treasury said in a statement that military intelligence officers under Kandiho have arrested, detained and physically abused Ugandans \u201cdue to their nationality, political views, or critique of the Ugandan government.\u201d Kandiho denied the allegation, arguing that the sanctions are politically motivated.<\/p>\n

Produced in association with\u00a0<\/i>ReligionUnplugged.com<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Source: Zenger News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0John Semakula A growing list of Muslims arrested and killed without trials in Ugandan anti-terrorism security operations, recently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-express","category-zenger-zone"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2826,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions\/2826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}