The group was arrested on suspicion it took part in the 2010 Kampala bombing that killed 76 people watching the World Cup
The Foreign Affairs ministry is holding talks with Uganda to repatriate five Kenyans rearrested after a court ordered their release.
Muhammad Suleiman, Suleiman Mbuthia, Omar Awadh, Abubaker Batemyeto and Ismail Kalule had been released last Thursday after a Ugandan court found no evidence they took part in the 2010 Kampala bombing that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final.
But the five were rearrested and taken to a secret location as they went to pick up their belongings, an act the ICJ termed “unnecessary, illegal and unconstitutional”.
The International Commission of Jurists said, “Their rearrest and continued detention is not only shocking, but it is also a clear violation of the order of the court, issued by Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo in his six-hour-long judgement. It adds to the already long list of violations against the five since their first arrest.”
ICJ executive director Samuel Muhochi said the five and their families have suffered enough.
The five are among seven Kenyans detained since 2010. They were renditioned to Uganda to face charges of belonging to a terrorist group, terrorism, 78 counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.
Rights groups have termed the renditioning illegal. Mohochi said, “The rearrest of the five not only shows lack of good faith by the Ugandan authorities but it raises suspicion of their motive, especially in a region struggling to fight terrorism and where counterterrorism measures continue to violate the rights of the citizen.”
He said the decision is blatant disregard of the rights to free movement and non-discrimination. Mohochi said the rearrest violates the East African Community Treaty Article 104 and East African Common Market Protocol Article 7.
The ICJ said the Kenyan High Commission should secure the quintet’s safe passage and return to Kenya “to enable them to reunite with their families”.