KAMPALA
Day Two of plea-taking at the International Crimes Division of the High Court yesterday saw surprises when two suspects pleaded guilty to terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism acts, respectively.
Edris Nsubuga and Muhamoud Mugisha are part of 14 suspects facing 92 counts in connection with last year’s Kampala bomb attacks that claimed at least 76 lives and left scores injured.
Nsubuga pleaded guilty to three charges of terrorism but denied counts of murder and attempted murder before Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dolo. He was part of 12 people, including his two brothers, facing 89 charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder.
Nsubuga, alias Eddy, was charged with his brother Isa Ahmed Luyima, while Muzafar Luyima is facing two counts of being an accessory to terrorism and murder.
The suspect amused court when he raised his hand and asked to speak. He then revealed that he was intimidated by his co-accused on Monday as he sought to plead guilty. “But I was threatened; my friends looked at me and I immediately changed my plea to deny the charges,” Nsubuga told the court.
Muhamoud Mugisha pleaded guilty to the only charge of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism he faced alone. Justice Owiny-Dolo adjourned the case to today to enable the state prepare the brief facts to allow court determine the fate of the accused persons.
The court on Monday discharged Kenyan human rights activist Al-Amin Kimathi, ending a year-long diplomatic row, after the state dropped charges against him and four others, including a Ugandan doctor Ismail Kalule.
Who are they?
Muhamoud Mugisha, 25, is a resident of Nakulabye in Rubaga Division, Kampala. He is of Rwandan origin. He allegedly confessed to being al-Qaeda’s linkman in Uganda in an extra-judicial statement before the High Court in Kampala.
He was arrested a few days after the July 11 terrorism attacks that targeted soccer fans watching World Cup final at Kyadondo Rugby Club and Ethiopian Village, both in Kampala. Nsubuga was intercepted at Malaba border point on his way to Kenya enroute to Somalia.
Nsubuga also confessed to being a close friend of Isa Ahmed Luyima, who has since recorded an extra-judicial statement admitting to have been the man in charge of smuggling suicide bomb jackets used by terrorists into the country. The jackets were allegedly assembled in Somalia.
For Edris Nsubuga, he was until his arrest, a businessman dealing in garments mainly imported from Asia. The resident of Church Zone, Najjanakumbi, a Kampala suburb on Entebbe Road, is charged with his two brothers, Isa Ahmed Luyima and Hassan Haruna Luyima. They all made extra-judicial statements before magistrates when they were first charged in court.
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