20100820
africanews

Human rights activists accused Kenya of secretly extraditing four terrorism suspects to Uganda for the July 11 twin bomb attacks on Kampala.

Al-Amin Kimathi, the chairman of the Muslim Human Rights Forum said this was a violation of Kenyan law.

“The fact that they are extralegally being moved looks like the Kenyans have devised reasons to circumvent the law," said Al-Amin Kimathi.

"The end is not justice; the end is information gathering via all sorts of interrogation efforts." He added that FBI agents interrogated three of the suspects illegally.

The US embassy which said the US was assisting the investigation did not mention on the role of the FBI. Nairobi could not be reached for comment about the report.

The suspects were seized in different locations in Kenya following deadly blast attacks killed at least 76 people watching the World Cup final in Kampala.

Lawyer Mbugua Mureithi, who represents the Kenyan suspects' families, told the AP news agency that no attempts were made by the government to follow extradition procedures.

"Even more disturbing is that Uganda has not made a formal request to extradite the four nationals to Uganda," he said.

The Uganda’s chief prosecutor said Wednesday that 32 people have charged in connection with the attacks.

Among the defendants are 14 Ugandans, 10 Kenyans, six Somalis, one Rwandan and one Pakistani, according to a list published Tuesday by the state-owned New Vision newspaper.

Al-Qaeda linked group of Al-Shabaab in Somalia claimed responsibilities for the July 11 attacks. The group said it was avenging the killing of civilians by the African Union peacekeepers.

Three years ago, Human rights group accused Kenya for rounding up and deporting to Somalia terror suspects accused of being members of an Islamist rebels. They were flown to Ethiopia and allegedly questioned by US agents - then released a year later.