Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Jamal Kiyemba appeared before the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala Tuesday on three terror-related charges.
Kiyemba Abdullah also known as Tonny Kiyemba, was committed to the International Crimes Division by Buganda Road Court on one charge and has now been charged before Lady Justice Alice Komuhangi Khaukha on an amended charge sheet.
Kiyemba is accused of rendering support to a terrorist group, belonging or professing to belong to a terrorist group, and soliciting or inviting support for a terrorist organization. The court heard that between 2021 and January 2022, while in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kiyemba belonged or professed to belong to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a designated terror organization, by recruiting persons for it, along with others still at large.
The court also heard that Kiyemba solicited or invited support for ADF on January 29th, 2022, at the Old Taxi Park in Kampala City. The evidence before the court, which Uganda Radio Network has seen, indicates that Kiyemba has been a radical Muslim since 1999 and has openly expressed his admiration, belief, and support for terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, Alshabaab, and ADF.
As stated in the summary of the case, in 2006, Jamal Kiyemba got in touch with Jamil Mukulu and joined his ADF terrorist organization. He became an active member of the ADF involved in recruiting and training the terrorist organization.
He was, however, arrested in Pakistan in 2002 together with a US operative and suspected Al Qaeda terrorists while trying to enter Afghanistan.
Kiyemba was reportedly born Anthony Kiyemba and converted to Islam following his father’s death and changed his name to Jamal Kiyemba.
As claimed by online sources, he was granted an indefinite stay in Britain before he ended up in Pakistan. He was then detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for four years before being released in 2006 after Muslim activists intervened on his behalf.
Records show that Kiyemba was later released and compensated with a whopping one million Euros (Shillings 3.7 billion) for false imprisonment and human rights abuse before being deported to Uganda.
The records also show that Kiyemba was subsequently arrested in Uganda in April 2015 in relation to the murder of state attorney, Joan Namazzi Kagezi on March 30, 2015. Unknown assassins riding on motorcycles gunned down Kagezi on her way home in Kiwatule, a Kampala City suburb.
Despite the arrest of several suspects, none has been tried successfully and convicted for the murder. In 2022, President Yoweri Museveni directed the Attorney General to work on the extradition of Kagezi’s killers but failed short of mentioning their names and where they are found.
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