20100921
Nation

Nairobi — A lawyer has petitioned the United States government over investigations into the July twin bombings in Uganda.

In a letter to US ambassador Michael Rannerberger, Nairobi lawyer Mbugua Mureithi complained that he was arrested illegally, held incommunicado and mistreated under the supervision of FBI agents.

The FBI is assisting Ugandan detectives to investigate the blasts that killed 76 people in Kampala on July 11.

The letter obtained by the Nation further claims that Muslim Human Rights Forum executive coordinator Al-Amin Kimathi, who was arrested together with Mr Mureithi, is facing trial on trumped up charges. He was charged with terrorism and murder at a Ugandan court.

According to Ugandan police, the two were arrested in the company of an al Shabaab suspect at Niagara Hotel in Uganda.

The letter identifies the alleged suspect as Mr Omar Awadh Omar, but claims he was arrested in Nairobi and not in Kampala.

"He was in fact arrested in Nairobi at around noon on September 17 -- two days after our arrest in Kampala. Habeas Corpus was filed in the High court in Nairobi and is being heard today (yesterday)," read part of the letter.

Mr Mureithi was released on Saturday without charges and was flown back to Nairobi, an act he describes as "deportation".

The letter recounts the arrest and interrogation.

"We were lured into a trap by members of Uganda's Rapid Response Unit. An officer kept on calling Kimathi, posing as a good Samaritan waiting for us at Niagara Hotel," the letter read.

It added: "On arrival at the hotel we were violently arrested, accused of being terrorists, hooded and traumatised with endless high speed driving throughout the night."

After interrogations, according to the lawyer, he was thrown into a cell where three other Kenyan suspects who he had gone to represent in court, were being held.

"They confided in me that the FBI had interrogated each of them and expressly told them that they were the ones in effective charge of the investigations," the letter said.