Once a jihadist, always a jihadist.
Via LWJ
An ex-Guantanamo detainee named Jamal Kiyemba has been arrested as a suspect in the assassination of Joan Kagezi, a senior counterterrorism prosecutor in Uganda. At the time of her death late last month, Kagezi was playing a lead role in the trial of 12 men who are accused of taking part in bombings in the capital of Kampala on July 11, 2010. More than 70 people were killed in the dual suicide attacks, which were carried out by a Shabaab unit named after a deceased al Qaeda operative.
Kiyemba’s arrest was first reported by NTV in Uganda. Several suspects were arrested in an “operation” that “was carried out by the Uganda Police Force with the support of US government personnel,” NTV reported. The news agency also released a short biography for Kiyemba that can be viewed on YouTube.
In a pair of tweets, NTV investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja reported that the US Embassy in Uganda has confirmed the Americans’ involvement in Kiyemba’s arrest. “The US gov’t supported police operations that led to the arrest of several suspects involved in Joan Kagezi’s murder,” Serwanjja wrote in one tweet earlier today. “We can confirm that former Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamal Kiyemba was detained in connection with the Joan Kagezi murder,” Serwanjja cited the US Embassy as saying in another.
Kagezi was gunned down on Mar. 30 “after she left her car – in which she was traveling with two of her children on the way home from work – to buy groceries in a Kampala suburb,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. “After shooting her in the head and neck, the gunmen fled on a motorcycle during heavy vehicular traffic, according to local police.”[…]
US officials at Joint Task Force – Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) described Kiyemba as a “medium” threat, as opposed to “low” or “high,” in a leaked threat assessment memo dated Nov. 3, 2004. JTF-GTMO recommended that Kiyemba be transferred “to the control of another country for continued detention.”
Kiyemba “is an admitted jihadist who attempted travel to Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks,” JTF-GTMO concluded. Kiyemba “is committed to defending Islamic nations against aggression” and he justified waging jihad against “any system like democracy [that] tries to end Islamic law.”
“I had no problem engaging the US in combat for purposes of jihad,” JTF-GTMO quoted Kiyemba as saying in the threat assessment.[…]
In press reports published after his release from Guantanamo, Kiyemba admitted that he had joined the Taliban in order to fight against American forces. Through his lawyer, Kiyemba also claimed that he was tortured at Guantanamo.
Prior to his reported arrest in Uganda earlier today, Kiyemba was probably best known for being the named party on habeas corpus challenges filed on behalf of Guantanamo detainees.