Update:
Boko Haram fighters told to ‘kill wives’ as troops take its ‘HQ’
Nigeria: Muslim leader says he’ll murder people who vote
Terrorist recounts life in al-Shabaab camp
by Hugh Fitzgerald
Boko Haram on one side of sub-Sarahan Africa, Al-Shebaab on the other. Black Africans persecuted, pillaged, enslaved, murdered by Muslims who think of themselves as Arabs, in what is now Southern Sudan. Arab slavemasters, black African slaves, in Mauritania and, informally, all over the Maghreb, slave-like conditions for black African workers and domestics.
Did you know, or did you know but then forget, about the Al-Shebaab bombs in Uganda? Did you know about the measures of self-defense taken in that country, the shutting down of some madrasas, and the Muslim reaction to it? Read here.
Terror suspects before the High Court in Kampala on Thursday.
Photo by Dominic Bukenya
IN SUMMARY
Mr Mugisha, a Rwandan citizen, was turned into a State witness in the terror case after pleading guilty to participating in the twin bombings at Kyadondo Rugby Club in Lugogo and Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala. At least 76 people who were watching the 2010 World Cup finals, were killed in the terror attacks
KAMPALA.
A convicted terrorist and now a state witness in the 2010 twin bombings in Kampala recounted the stringent life inside the Al- Shabaab camp.
During cross-examination by defence lawyers in court on Thursday, Mr Muhammood Mugisha, 32, said any attempted escape from the Al-Shabaab camp in Somalia would be punished by execution.
Executions
“The rule was that whoever tried to escape would be beheaded. We were supposed to have a second name (code name) which was not supposed to be disclosed to other members in the group apart from the leaders,” Mr Mugisha narrated before Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dolo of the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala.
The witness, who appeared calm throughout the trial session, was responding to spontaneous questions from the defence lawyers led by Caleb Alaka.
“We were also not allowed to stay with our wives and children in the camp,” Mr Mugisha told a packed courtroom.
Mr Mugisha, a Rwandan citizen, was turned into a State witness in the terror case after pleading guilty to participating in the twin bombings at Kyadondo Rugby Club in Lugogo and Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala. At least 76 people who were watching the 2010 World Cup finals, were killed in the terror attacks.
Justice Owiny-Dolo adjourned the hearing to next Tuesday for further cross- examination of the witness. Mugisha was arrested with 12 others on terror charges. He confessed and was sentenced to five years in jail, which he has completed.