CMI quiz Kawooya over rebel links

Kampala. Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence operatives have spent the last few days interrogating Mr Yusuf Kawooya about links to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels and stoning of President Museveni’s vehicle.

Sources privy to the investigations say Mr Kawooya, the man who was captured on video being brutalised by armed security men during his arrest on Colville Street in the city centre last week, was also asked about which Muslim groups he associates with and where they pray from.

After his savage arrest, Mr Kawooya was driven in a taxi bearing a fake number plate to an unknown place and the family spent the last few days trying to establish his whereabouts.
Police denied detaining him. His family and lawyer were turned away when they went to CMI headquarters in Mbuya to look for him.
The army declined to reveal where Mr Kawooya was being detained until yesterday when the family finally located him at the Special Investigations Unit in Kireka, a police detention facility.

It is not clear whether Mr Kawooya had been kept at a separate place and was only transferred to Kireka later or he was taken there immediately after the arrest.
Mr Kawooya’s sister, Ms Sharifa Nakitende, confirmed they found him at Kireka yesterday.

“We got him at Kireka. We saw him physically and he is not in bad condition, but he said he has internal pain,” she said.
Ms Nakitende said her brother needs urgent medical attention to ascertain the internal pains he is feeling. “He really needs medication. Although he is being treated from the detention, it is not enough,” Ms Nakitende said.
She said her brother told her that after interrogating him on his alleged links to ADF, the CMI operatives asked him to lead them to the rebels.

However, she said no charge had been made against Mr Kawooya, but added that the ADF link is frightening.
During the Arua Municipality parliamentary by-election campaign in August, it was alleged that Opposition supporters stoned the President’s vehicle, sparking retaliation by security forces and violence that claimed several lives and injured dozens of others some of whom had to be treated for severe torture wounds here and abroad.

At least 36 people, including five opposition MPs have since been charged with treason.
Ms Nakitende said the family knows Mr Kawooya has no link to ADF or any radical group, but they suspect he is being framed for political reasons.

Mr Kawooya’s lawyer, Mr Kenneth Kakande, has petitioned the High Court seeking orders for security forces to produce him in court. He said the security forces are detaining his client illegally and beyond the constitutional 48-hour period.
Mr Kakande said while a few relatives were allowed to see Mr Kawooya, he and other lawyers representing him were denied access to their client.

Lawyer defiant
He said this is violation of his client’s right of access to legal representation, adding that they will continue fighting to ensure they see him.
“We are filing for habeas corpus to produce him dead or alive within the shortest time practicable. This is supposed to take immediate effect,” Mr Kakande said.
A habeas corpus is an application to produce a detained suspect in court.

Police STOP press conference

Police yesterday dispersed a group of politicians who had gathered to address the journalists about Mr Kawooya’s brutal arrest.
Commanding a 15-strong team of armed police, Mr Godwin Ochaki, the former Mbale District Police Commander, stormed Bativa Hotel on Makerere Hill in Kampala and ordered the press conference to stop.
“We have received a complaint from the hotel management that you did not explain to them what your gathering was to address,” Mr Ochaki told the conveners.

Former presidential aspirant Abed Bwanika, former Buikwe South MP Lulume Bayiga, Democratic Party member Sulaiman Kidandala, among others, had gathered to address the media.
Dr Lulume said the men who were arraigned before the military court do not resemble the vivid picture of the gunmen who were captured on the video clip torturing Mr Kawooya.

“That man who beat Mr Kawooya in the lower abdomen with the gun butt could not have lost weight in just a night. We are suspecting that Mr Kawooya is dead or deformed because the position he was beaten is where the left kidney and the spleen are located. If these are damaged, you are no more,” he told journalists.
As police took positions in the hotel gardens, the politicians, who claimed they belong to the People Power movement of Kyaddondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, sprang to their feet and had a verbal exchange with the detectives.
Mr Bwanika displayed a receipt from the hotel proving the venue had been paid for but his plea fell on deaf ears as the already charged officers ordered the politicians out.

“We are here legally,” Mr Bwanika told the police. “You should give us a written document indicating that we are not supposed to be here. You are acting like rebels to your own countrymen.”
The exchange lasted about 40 minutes before the politicians yielded and left the hotel.
Mr Ochaki was overheard ordering his men to make arrests but they stood aloof. It is not clear whether they defied him or were still trying to understand his orders.

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