Suspects bid to halt Ugandan bombing trial

KAMPALA (AFP) - Suspects in court for Uganda's deadly July 2010 bomb attacks launched a legal challenge Tuesday to block the trial, arguing that they were illegally extradited and tortured to give confessions.

Lawyers for 11 of the 12 accused men, who all deny involvement in the bombings which killed at least 76 people, asked the judge to suspend the proceedings.

"These accused persons contest the manner in which they were bought to Uganda from Kenya and Tanzania," Peter Walumbiri, a lawyer for eight of the men, said at Kampala's High Court as the trial resumed.

"They allege they were bought to Uganda and handed over to the authorities illegally," he added.

Lawyers have lodged petitions with the Constitutional Court to halt the trial of the suspects, who include seven Kenyans, four Ugandans and a Tanzanian.

Suicide bombers struck two bars in Kampala on July 11, 2010, where people had gathered to watch the World Cup final. The bombings were the worst in East Africa since attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed 223 people in 1998.

Somalia's Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels claimed responsibility, saying it was in revenge for Ugandan military involvement in the African Union force protecting the Western-backed Somali government.

Walumbiri said Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities did not follow the necessary extradition procedures when they sent the men to Uganda and that they were forced into giving confessions once in Ugandan custody.

"The accused allege that, counter to the constitution of the republic of Uganda, they have been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and torture, and that this compromised their prospects of a fair trial," Walumbiri said.

Following a claim from prosecutors that they needed more time, presiding High Court Judge Alfonse Owiny-Dollo adjourned the case to Wednesday morning, when he said he would make a decision on whether to suspend the trial pending the outcome of the Constitutional Court petition.

Two men were sentenced to 25 and five years in jail after they pled guilty to charges of terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism when the trial started in September.

Charges were also dropped against five other suspects in September, including Kenyan human rights activist Al-Amin Kimathi, after the prosecution withdrew the case against them.

Rights groups had repeatedly called for Kimathi's release on grounds that his arrest was arbitrary.