Uganda 'should free Kenyan activist'
2010-09-28 15:39
Kampala - Uganda should release a Kenyan human rights activist facing terrorism and murder charges in connection with a bomb attack on Kampala or serve him with details of those charges, two rights groups said late on Monday.
Al-Amin Kimathi, who heads the Muslim Human Rights Forum in neighbouring Kenya, was arrested in the Ugandan capital on September 15 after travelling to the east African country to witness court hearings of Kenyan suspects extradited to Uganda.
Twin bomb blasts ripped through crowds watching the soccer World Cup final on July 11 in Kampala killing 79 people and wounding several dozen. Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab movement claimed responsibility, saying it was retribution for Uganda's deployment in Mogadishu.
Kimathi was arrested with Kenyan lawyer Mbugua Mureithi, who was later released by Ugandan authorities.
Kenya's intelligence services said Kimathi was the "centrepiece" in al-Qaeda's regional propaganda wing, tasked with garnering sympathy for the hardline Islamists among the media, legal fraternity and human rights groups, leaked reports showed.
In a joint letter to Uganda's internal affairs ministry, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) urged Uganda to formally inform Kimathi of the basis for the charges against him without delay, or release him.
"In the absence of any other reasonable detailed explanation from Ugandan authorities, the circumstances (...) strongly suggest that Mr Mureithi and Mr Kimathi were arbitrarily detained because they sought to exercise their work as a lawyer and human rights defender respectively," the watchdogs wrote.
Many Kenyans are angered by the way their government has extradited Kenyan nationals to Uganda, alleging correct judicial procedures have not been followed. Kimathi, a prominent Muslim activist, was among the most critical in public.
A total of 38 people from Uganda and abroad have been charged over the bombings.