Africa-Press – Uganda. On June 2, a joint security team from Crime Intelligence (CI) and Chieftaincy of Crime Intelligence (CMI) raided the home of Sheikh Muhammad Kamoga, the head of Jumiat Dawa Al Salafiya, basing on claims that he had confined 40 people against their will.
They jumped over the fence, broke into his bedroom and turned things upside down before they pounced on innocent people. They used gun buts to hit the suspects as they belly crawled. None of the people at Kamoga’s home resisted arrest but were beaten and kicked with impunity.
Fortunately, spy cameras captured the spectacle, including the torture in a detailed footage that has been making rounds on social media. After torturing the people in total violation of the laws, the police faked the story, chest thumping how they “rescued the victims”.
It’s not clear why police assaulted the same “victims” they “rescued”, claiming that the alleged victims were being fed on one meal a day and studying ‘secretive’ sharia law. If these young Muslims committed any offence, the sensible option would be to arrest them and present them before court, but not torturing them.
It’s alleged that the raid followed “complaints” from “relatives” of the “confined “victims” after they filed missing people reports at police. However, there were unconfirmed reports, linking the raid on Sheikh Kamoga’s home to a domestic quarrel over one of the boys he was tutoring . The father had sent the boy to Sheikh Kamoga’s facility to learn Islamic faith, which the mother rejected and called police to intervene.
Even if Sheikh Kamoga was running an unlicensed school, security personnel had no authority to torture suspects. They displayed the highest levels of brutality.
Under the law, you can be arrested where reasonable grounds exist that you have committed an offence or are about to. A police officer is permitted to use reasonable force but if you offer no violence, the police officer must not strike you. You will be taken to the police station for interrogation. If the offence is not a serious one, the police can promptly release you on a non-cash bond.
The issue is not about raiding Sheikh Kamoga’s home, it’s the continued torture of suspects and the growing cases of misconduct in our criminal justice system. Torture of suspects must stop and the perpetrators must be punished. A group of rogue security personnel has stained the good image of our security agencies. This impunity shouldn’t be allowed to continue.
We, therefore, propose change of mentality and a new culture of reasonable force in our criminal justice system. Let us get rid of the weevils in our security organs.
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