Muslim Members of Parliament in Uganda, under the Muslim Parliamentary Caucus are demanding for the unconditional release of renowed Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahya Mwanje.
Led by Hon. Asuman Basalirwa (JEEMA, Bugiri Municipality), the legislators condemned the government’s illegal arrest of Muslim leaders and their continued detention without trial.
During a press conference on Monday, 5th December 2022, the MPs also demanded that Muslim leaders should be brought to court, and also that their families, doctors and lawyers should be allowed to see them.
“Last week the country witnessed the illegal arrest of Sheikh Yahya Mwanje, one of the leaders of Nakasero Mosque and another Muslim leader from Mbale, Mansa Musa. We are deeply concerned about those arrests,” Basalirwa said adding that, ’the mode of arrest does not befit the status of religious leaders. You would have expected the police or any security agency to summon those religious leaders’.
He wondered why the religious leaders are picked without following the legal process and detained incommunicado.
“That is illegal and unconstitutional. We protest that kind of treatment that our religious leaders are being subjected to. We are also concerned that up to now, Sheikh Yahya Mwanje has not been produced before courts of law,” he said.
Hon. Abdallah Kiwanuka (NUP, Mukono North) who also doubles as the Shadow Minister of Internal Affairs said that they are not against arresting any person but the law should be adhered to.
“Whether a person is a Muslim or not, the law should be followed while being arrested. Up to now, the country does not know the charges against these people,” said the Mukono North MP.
Abdallah Kiwanuka demanded that government explains the continued arrests of Muslim clerics under unclear circumstances.
Kiboga West MP, Hon. Abdul Mutumba also demanded that government immediately produces the arrested religious leaders before court.
“It is now more than a week since the arrests were made and these people have not been produced before court. Also, the Muslim leadership should wake up and get interested in this critical issue,” said Mutumba.
Mawokota South MP, Hon. Yusuf Nsibambi, said that the humiliation of Muslim clerics should stop and demanded for their immediate release.
