'Terror evangelist' deported
2006-03-28 13:53
Kampala - Uganda deported an American
evangelist who was charged with terrorism after detectives found
assault rifles hidden in his bedroom just days before last
month's election, the country's police chief said on Tuesday.
Uganda's Inspector-General of Police, Major-General Kale
Kayihura, said the government had dropped the charges against
Peter Waldron, 59, who had claimed close links to President
Yoweri Museveni's family.
"We are not saying the merits of the case were not there.
They were. There was no dispute that he was found with guns,"
Kayihura told Reuters by telephone.
The charges against the Wyoming man were dropped on Friday
and he was placed on a flight to Kenya late on Monday.
Kayihura said the government's decision took into account
"other factors," but he did not elaborate.
Waldron was arrested on February 20 and charged with having four
unlicenced AK-47 rifles and 180 bullets.
Charges against six fellow suspects, three men from Uganda
and three from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, were
also dropped. All seven had denied the terrorism charges.
Waldron's lawyer said he was only told the state had lost
interest in the case. United States embassy staff declined comment.
In an e-mailed statement, his wife Pamela Waldron said she
had never had any doubt the prosecution would be abandoned.
"I am excited, exhilarated, that Peter is on his way home to
his family," she said.
She said her husband was in poor health after his jailing.
Waldron's supporters in the US say he was persecuted
because of a critical newsletter he published that Kayihura had
called "defamatory". Uganda denies that.
The former military man had worked for four years in the
East African country as an IT consultant at the Health Ministry.
He was also the founder of an evangelical group, and police
say he was planning to start a political party based on
Christian principles when he was arrested - three days before
Uganda held its first multi-party election for 25 years.
- Reuters