The International Crimes Division of the High Court has sentenced former Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamal Kiyemba, also known as Abdullah, to six years in prison after finding him guilty of soliciting support for the outlawed Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Judge Susan Okalany convicted and sentenced Kiyemba after the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that he publicly encouraged members of the public to support the terrorist organisation.
The court heard that on January 29, 2022, at about 9:30 a.m., Kiyemba was at Kampala’s Old Taxi Park preparing to travel to Bugiri District when he shouted, “Long live ADF,” and called on members of the public to support the rebel group.
According to the prosecution, Kiyemba warned that blood would continue to be shed in Kampala if the public failed to support the ADF, a group responsible for numerous deadly attacks in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In delivering the sentence, Judge Okalany said the court carefully considered both aggravating and mitigating factors before arriving at the six-year prison term.
Among the aggravating factors were the gravity of the offence, the need to protect the public from terrorism-related crimes, and the importance of deterring others from engaging in similar conduct.
The court also considered several mitigating factors, including that the incident involved a single act of solicitation, Kiyemba’s remarks did not result in the recruitment of anyone into the ADF, his diagnosed bipolar disorder, and his personal circumstances, both past and present.
Judge Okalany concluded that the sentence was proportionate to the offence and appropriate in the circumstances of the case.
“The period of remand from May 2022 to july 2026, amounting to four years, two months, and 19 days, shall bc credited towards the six-year custodial sentence imposed, in accordance with the law. Consequently, the individual will serve a remaining term of 1 year, 9 months, and 11 days,” Judge Okalany said.
About Kiyemba
Kiyemba was arrested May 2022 while serving as the Imam for Masjid Taqwa Zzana, Kirimanyaga zone, Makindye Ssabagabo in Wakiso district .
Born Anthony Kiyemba in Uganda, he converted to Islam aged 20 and changed his name to Jamal Abdullah.
When his family moved to Britain following the death of his father in 1993, Kiyemba refused to pally for British citizenship.
According to US military files, he was later in 2002 arrested 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’.
It is said that Kiyemba had lived in the UK for eight years before travelling to Pakistan.
The former pharmacy student at a university in Leicester was held at Guantanamo Bayo for four years until he was released in 2006 but since he was not a British citzen, he was not allowed back to the UK.
Consequently he was deported to Uganda by the US.
In 2015 he was arrested in connection with the shooting of prosecutor Joan Kagezi who was leading prosecutions in the case of the men accused of masterminding the July 2010 Lugogo twin bombings.
Uganda police then said Kiyemba had been arrested with the help of US officials but there was no conclusive evidence to link him to the shooting.
ADF links
Kiyemba was accused of having links with ADF which was last year blamed for the double bomb blasts in Kampala at the Central Police Station and along Parliamentary Avenue killing more than six people including police officers.
The ADF was a few years ago declared as a terrorist group in 2014 swore allegiance to the Islamic State, a radical Sunni military group.
According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the ADF has used the name Madina at Tauheed Wau Mujahedeen (City of Monotheism and Holy Warriors—MTM) to emphasize its links to the Islamic State.
