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| Africa Horn |
| Wife of Kampala bomb suspect tells of his arrest |
| 2010-08-03 |
| [The Nation (Nairobi)] More than 20 police officers wearing hoods ransacked her home in Kawangware at about 1.30am. They then handcuffed and blindfolded her husband before driving off with him. The man they took away in connection to the July 11 bombing in Uganda last month was Mr Idris Magondu, 42. He was arrested alongside two other Kenyans -- Hussein Hassan Agade, 27, and Mohamed Aden Addow, 25. They would later be charged with 76 counts of murder, even as they did not enter a plea. Depressing operation Ms Saida Rosemary, Mr Magondu's wife, termed the arrest operation "depressing", adding that her husband was innocent and could not have participated in the bombings. "On the day of the Ugandan bombings, we went for shopping at Eastleigh with my husband before we returned to the house," Ms Rosemary told journalists. "The landlord sent us a message thinking we had been attacked. Suddenly, there were loud bangs demanding we open the door." According to Ms Rosemary, her husband whom she says worked as a driver and preached part-time, was arrested by more than 20 police officers wearing balaclava helmets, while armed with automatic weapons. In the course of arresting her husband, she says, the policemen ransacked the house, destroying household items, including sofa seats, ceiling boards and food. The police officers, Ms Rosemary adds, confiscated all her personal belongings including her national identity card, family photo album and mobile telephone. They did not write an inventory of the items they had seized and confiscated. After handcuffing her husband and blindfolding him, she says, the hooded men drove away with him, arrogantly telling her that she would never see him again and that she should start looking for another man. The following day, she said, she searched for him at various police stations, in vain. On July 27, Ms Rosemary says, she was advised by some of her friends to look for him at the Kileleshwa Police Station. At least 76 people died in Kampala, on July 11, after bombs went off at two venues where soccer fans were watching the World Cup final game between Spain and the Netherlands. Ms Rosemary describes her husband as a "peaceful, God-fearing and law-abiding citizen". Kenya Muslim Human Rights Forum chairperson Al Amin Kimanthi on Saturday accused Kenyan authorities of breaching the law and handing the suspect over to Uganda. Hassan Elijuma Agade, too, is yet to come to terms with the circumstances surrounding the arrest of his son Hussein Hassan Agade, who was on Friday arraigned in a Kampala court in connection with the Kampala bomb blasts. From his house in Kawangware, he seemed lost in thought while speaking to the Nation. "He is a very polite young man, very understanding and had just started his marriage life; his wife is six months pregnant. I don't understand when they implicate him in this," said Mr Agade, who works with Afya Sacco. The Attorney General is yet to respond to a suit by relatives of two of the arrested Kenyans. In court yesterday, the State lawyer wanted court to give them more time to file their response to the case. Their application was, however, filed before the two were arraigned in a Ugandan court last week. The charges include terrorism, murder and attempted murder. The parties are expected in court today for the AG to respond. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 her husband was innocent and could not have participated in the bombings If he's innocent you still have a serious problem: SOMEBODY has to take the fall and he seems to have made some powerful enemies who are happy for it to be him. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-08-03 08:42 |