A court in the Ugandan capital Kampala has ruled that a Kenyan national who faced terror charges in Uganda be deported after he was acquitted of the offense, his lawyer said on Thursday. Lead defense lawyer, Caleb Alaka told Xinhua by telephone that Justice Margaret Oumo Oguli of the International Crimes Division of the High Court, on Wednesday upheld an earlier order for the deportation of Omar Awadh Omar to Kenya.
“The judge said in five days, but I think they will deport him tomorrow (Friday),” said Alaka. “At least after three years he can come back to Uganda. We are waiting to see that if in Kenya anything happens (arrest and charge) to him, we shall go to the East African Court of Justice,” he said.
After his acquittal last month, Omar Awadh Omar protested a move by Uganda to deport him, arguing that he was born in the east African country. The court ruled to uphold the government’s decision, arguing that since Omar had a Kenyan passport and his father was Kenyan, he should be deported.
The court however also ruled that since Omar’s mother was Ugandan, he could occasionally visit his relatives in the country after a three-year period. Omar was first arrested in 2010 during a swoop of persons suspected for masterminding a terror attack in Kampala that left close to 80 people dead and dozens of others injured.
Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge of Uganda’s deployment of troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu in 2007. Omar was among the three Kenyans and two Ugandans whose charges were dropped last month after prosecution failed to produce evidence pinning them in masterminding the 2010 terror attacks. They had been re-arrested in June 2016 after court had set them free
