Jailed Mabirizi fighting for the immediate release of MPs “Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana”

Jailed city lawyer Male Mabirizi has asked the Constitutional Court to order Uganda Prisons Service -UPS to produce the Kawempe North Member of Parliament, Muhammad Ssegirinya, and his Makindye West counterpart Allan Ssewanyana for the hearing of the case seeking to quash criminal charges against them. #WhisperEyeNews

Mabirizi made the request on Monday while appearing before the Constitutional Court registrar Henry Twinomuhwezi, for the pretrial hearing of his suit in which he sued the Attorney General for slapping additional charges against the legislators moments after being released on bail for murder.

Police arrested the two legislators on September 7th, 2021 in Masaka district shortly after securing bail from the chief magistrate’s court. They were slapped with additional charges of terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism, murder, and attempted murder, and remanded to Kigo prisons.

The charges stem from their alleged involvement in the Greater Masaka region machete killings, which claimed the lives of more than 20 people between July and September 2021. On September 21st 2021, court granted them bail of Shillings 20million before the state slapped with them an additional charge of murdering Joseph Bwanika eight days later.
As a result, Mabirizi petitioned the Constitutional Court in the same month, arguing that the additional charges brought on a different criminal file amount to political persecution, which is unjustifiable in a free and democratic society and therefore unconstitutional.