Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee charged, denies links with ADF

 Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamal Kiyemba (right) consults his lawyer Geoffrey Turyamusiima in court last week. Kiyemba was charged before Buganda Road Court on May 16, 2022. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA

What you need to know:

  • The suspect  allegedly got involved with the ADF, and rallied people to join the terror group in Kampala in January.

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Jamal Kiyemba, 43, alias Abdullah, alias Tonny Kiyemba, has denied belonging to a rebel outfit, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Mr Kiyemba appeared before a video conferencing session at Buganda Road Court yesterday, and denied the one count of belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Prosecution contends that Kiyemba and others still at large, between 2021 and January this year in DR Congo and Uganda belonged or professed to belong to ADF, a terrorist organisation.

During the same session, the prosecutor, Ms Joan Keko, told court that inquiries into Kiyemba’s case are complete before seeking for a hearing date.

Subsequently, presiding chief magistrate Douglas Singiza adjourned the matter to June 6 .

According to information that Daily Monitor  obtained, Kiyemba was deported to Uganda from the United Kingdom after his citizenship was withdrawn following allegations of participating in terror activities.

He then allegedly got involved with the ADF in Uganda and DRC. It is further alleged that in January, he went to the Old Taxi Park in Kampala and rallied people to support the rebel outfit.

Police were tipped, leading to his arrest and the eventual charging.

Kiyemba, who denied the charges, is also the Imam for Masjid Taqwa Zzana, Kirimanyaga Zone, Makindye Ssabagabo in Wakiso District.

Mr Geoffrey Turyamusiima, his lawyer, said Kiyemba would file for infringement of his human rights.

After the session, Mr Turyamusiima told Daily Monitor that they requested court to grant them time to bring to its attention that their client was detained beyond the mandatory 48 hours which affects his right to personal liberty.

Mr Turyamusiima claimed his client was arrested in January, and was detained at unlawful dentation centres.

According to police records, Kiyemba was born in Uganda and he converted to Islam at the age of 20 before changing his name to Jamal Abdullah.

Kiyemba moved with his family to UK following the death of his father in 1993.

He was later arrested in 2002 by the US army near Peshawar in Pakistan after allegedly trying to enter Afghanistan in the company of ‘a probable al-Qaeda operative, a suspected al-Qaeda operative and a low-level jihadist’.

He had lived in the UK for eight years before travelling to Pakistan.

Profile

Jamal Kiyemba is a former pharmacy student at a university in Leicester and was held at Guantanamo Bay for four years until he was released in 2006 but since he was not a British citizen, he was not allowed back into the UK.

Consequently, he was deported to Uganda. Kiyemba was among the suspects who were arrested following the shooting of state prosecutor Joan Kagezi in March 2015.

He was, however, released because there was no conclusive evidence linking him to the shooting.