Court upholds deportation order for acquitted Lugogo 2010 bomb suspect
The International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala has upheld a deportation order issued by the Internal Affairs Minister in regards Omar Awadh Omar who was recently released but re-arrested by police.
Omar, who according to government documents is a Kenyan national was first arrested following the twin blasts at Lugogo rugby grounds and Ethiopian village in 2010 that killed over 70 Ugandans who were watching the World Cup finals.
It was alleged then that he had received over shs130 million from the UK through Qaran forex bureau in Kenya and was used to fund the attack on Uganda but in 2016, then Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo acquitted him and four others of any wrong doing and ordered for their release.
Omar was together with the four re-arrested by police and charged afresh with terrorism for allegedly being found in possession of literature promoting terrorism but last month the Director of Public Prosecution discontinued the charges prompting the International Crimes Division of High Court to release him.
However, police re-arrested him before the Internal Affairs Minister Gen.Jeje Odong issued an order deporting him to Kenya after being deemed undesirable to stay in Uganda.
He would later appeal against the deportation through the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala.
In an affidavit sworn by Fatuma Abdhara Said who claims to be Omar’s biological mother, she said Omar is a Ugandan by birth and deporting him to any other country is unlawful.
“I am a female adult Ugandan of sound mind, Munyankore by tribe born of Kitwekyanjovu, Kyazanga in Lwengo district and the biological mother to the appellant,” says in part the affidavit.
The affidavit also says that Omar’s father who died in 2011 was a Kenyan of Arab descent and had migrated to Kenya together with his family to Kenya but returned to Uganda in 2002 without Omar.
However, on Wednesday, Justice Margret Oumo Oguli ruled that despite evidence that Omar was a Ugandan citizen by birth, he was also a Kenyan citizen after acquiring a Kenyan passport intentionally.
The judge ruled that after migrating to Kenyan during Amin's regime, Omar's parents returned to Uganda but he chose to remain in Kenya intentionally.
"After the Amin regime, his parents returned to Uganda but he chose to stay in Kenya and got a Kenyan passport though he knew he was a Ugandan by birth," Justice Oguli ruled.
"This court hereby dismisses the appeal and upholds the minister's deportation orders."
The judge however allowed Omar to visit his relatives in Uganda after three years from now but on permission of Internal Affairs Minister.
