KAMPALA, UGANDA: Security have up to December 6th, 2021 to produce the widows of the late Sheikh Abas Muhammad Kirevu before High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana.
“…. take notice that you are required to have the bodies of Nabadda, Nakachwa and Najjuuko produced in the said court before the said judge on December 6 to make a return to the said writ or in default thereof the said court will then or on soon after as counsel can be heard be moved for an attachment against you for your contempt in not obeying the said writ,” reads the order.
He issued the order following an application by lawyers Nalukoola, Kakeeto Advocates and Nyanzi, Kiboneka and Mbabazi Advocates, demanding Amina Nabadda and Sofia Nakachwa, both widows of the late Sheikh Kirevu and their sister-in-law, Mariam Najjuuko be produced.
The trio were arrested by security forces during a raid on their residence in Busabala-Makindye, Ssabagabo division in Wakiso district on November 18th, 2021. The operatives arrested Sheikh Kirevu and shot him dead for his alleged links to the rebel Allied Democratic Forces-ADF.
Police claimed that the deceased Sheikh who was suspected of recruiting people to ADF was killed after he violently tried to resist arrest, a narrative the family has since dismissed as false.
Security has since held Kirevu’s widows and sister in law incommunicado, which prompted them to sue the Inspector General of Police-IGP, the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence-CMI, the Director of Criminal Investigations Department – CID, the Commandant of Special Investigations Unit – SIU, and the Attorney General.
The Court heard that the three persons were abducted and kidnapped by government security agents and bundled into a vehicle after killing the family head. The lawyers stated that the whereabouts of the three persons remain unknown and there is fear that after the killing of Sheikh Kereru, the applicants could have been killed.
“That the applicants may be under intense torture and inhuman treatment by the security operatives as is being done to the Muslims arrested as terrorists/ADF,” reads the court documents.
In a sworn affidavit supporting the application, Ibrahim Kirevu, a family member said that he had visited several police stations, which are gazetted detention facilities to try and find the trio in vain.
The lawyers argued that it was in the interest of justice that the court reviews the legality of the arrest, imprisonment and detention.
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