Former Guantanamo Bay detainee charged over ADF links, remanded

A former Guantanamo Bay detainee has been charged over links with Allied Democratic Forces rebel and terrorist group and remanded to prison by the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court in Kampala.

Jamal Kiyemba, also known as Tonny Kiyemba, 43 the Imam for Masjid Taqwa Zzana, Kirimanyaga zone, Makindye Ssabagabo in Wakiso district was on Thursday arraigned before the Chief Magistrates Court and charged with belonging to a terrorist organization contrary to section 11(1)  (a) and (b) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2002.

“Jamal Kiyemba and others still at large between 2021 and January 2022 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda belonged or professed to belong to Allied Democratic Forces(ADF) a terrorist organization,” the court read the charges.

However, he was not allowed to take plea since the charges against him are capital in nature.

The same was however protested by the accused’s lawyer, Geoffrey Turyamusiima who told the trial Chief Magistrate Dr.Douglas Singiza that the charges can be tried by the court since it has jurisdiction to do so.

Dr.Singiza however adjourned the case to May 16 to enable him consult about the status of the charges before allowing or refusing Kiyemba to take plea.

He was consequently remanded until then.

About Kiyemba

Born Anthony Kiyemba in Uganda 43 year ago, 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 is 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.

In 2019, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an ADF attack and first referenced a “Central Africa Province.

The Ugandan army(UPDF) has since deployed in Eastern DRC to flush out the ADF group from their hideouts following the November attacks in Kampala.