Ugandan court denies bail to veteran opposition leader in treason case
KAMPALA (Reuters) -A Ugandan judge refused to grant bail on Friday to veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, who has been in jail for nearly nine months on treason charges.
The case has raised concerns among government critics, including opposition leader Bobi Wine and rights groups, about a crackdown ahead of Uganda's national election early next year in which President Yoweri Museveni, 80, is seeking re-election.
The government denies targeting opposition figures and says all those who have been detained have committed crimes.
A former ally and personal physician of Museveni, Besigye has stood and lost against Museveni in four elections. He has not said whether he is running again.
Besigye, who denies any wrongdoing, was forcefully returned to Uganda from neighbouring Kenya in November last year, and initially charged in a military tribunal, before his case was transferred to a civilian court.
His lawyers argued he should be automatically released on bail because he has spent more than 180 days in jail without his trial starting.
Judge Emmanuel Baguma said the 180-day maximum period before mandatory bail is granted only began when he was remanded in the civilian court on February 21, which means he falls short by 12 days in order to secure bail.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hereward Holland and Alison Williams)
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How a CIA hit on al Qaeda ensnared a US citizen in Afghanistan
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That is contradicted by the witness accounts and other evidence, including data monitored from Habibi's cellphone, described to Reuters by a U.S. official and a former U.S. official familiar with the matter. The Taliban denials present a conundrum for the FBI, which is leading the U.S. government effort to gain his release; and for the State Department, which describes Habibi's detention a major impediment to exploring increased engagement with Afghanistan, three years after his August 10, 2022 arrest. U.S. President Donald Trump has made freeing Americans held abroad a top priority and already has secured the release of dozens, including from Afghanistan, Russia and Venezuela. The case of Habibi - the only publicly identified American held in the country - has been harder to resolve. This story is the most comprehensive account to date of the circumstances of Habibi's capture and includes previously unreported details. Among them, interviews with the U.S. official and a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case reveal that the Taliban likely detained Habibi because the CIAhadpenetrated the companywherehe sources say the U.S. spy agency had accessed one of the company's security cameras, helping it pinpoint the al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a Kabul guesthouse. Habibi's detention came 10 days after Zawahiri - the last of the top plotters of the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States - was dramatically assassinated by a U.S. drone strike on the guesthouse, ordered by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. At the time, U.S. officials briefed journalists that it was a CIA operation. The U.S. sources told Reuters that Habibi was unaware of the CIA plot and was wrongly detained after returning to Kabul from a work trip to Dubai after the assassination, oblivious of the danger he was in. The CIA, the Taliban, the White House and Habibi's employer, Virginia-based ARX Communications, did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this story. ARX has previously said neither it, nor its subsidiaries, were involved with the strike on Zawahiri. Reuters could not independently verify whether Habibi was or wasn't aware of the plot. In a statement to Reuters, a State Department spokesperson called for Habibi's immediate release. "We know the Taliban abducted Mahmood Habibi nearly three years ago," the spokesperson said. A co-worker detained with Habibi, then later released, saw him in GDI headquarters and heard him in an adjacent room being asked if he worked for the CIA or was involved in the strike on Zawahiri, according to one of the statements in U.S government possession, seen by Reuters. Then, in June and August of 2023, the U.S. government detected that his mobile phone had been switched on in GDI headquarters, the U.S. official and former official said. Reuters could not reach the witnesses who made statements, including the coworker, or verify the accuracy of their account of Habibi's detention. The U.S. official familiar with the matter said excerpts of the statements have been presented to the Taliban in response to their repeated denials of Habibi's detention. As Habibi and his family on Sunday mark the third anniversary of his arrest, the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to win his release, including offering a $5 million reward for information. But so far, he appears no closer to freedom, the U.S. sources said. "Our family has new hope that the Trump team will be successful," said Habibi's older brother, Ahmad. Ahmad said his brother would never have gone to Kabul four days after the Zawahiri assassination if the CIA had told ARX to warn him it was too dangerous to return. 'Nobody told him anything. Neither the company, neither the CIA nor anybody. So, he just went back,' Ahmad said. 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That confirmation helped the agency kill the Egyptian Islamist with two drone-fired Hellfire R9X missiles on July 31, 2022, as he emerged onto a balcony, they said. His wife and family survived the strike. While officials in the Biden administration at the time described the CIA's drone operation to kill Zawahiri with Hellfires, the details of the agency's operation on the ground, including the presence of the camera and its role in identifying Zawahiri have not been previously disclosed. ARREST On the day of his arrest, Mahmood Habibi was in his apartment in Kabul's Sherpur neighborhood packing to return to New Jersey, where he had a home, with the help of a sister, who was there with her two children, according to Ahmad. It was about noon when a phone call came from the ACG office saying it had just been raided by the Taliban, Ahmad said. Habibi told his sister that he had to leave without explaining why. He was arrested immediately after getting into his vehicle, Ahmad said. 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Habibi flew from Dubai to Kabul on August 4, 2022, after stopping in Qatar to check on his family and parents who were housed on a U.S. military base there waiting for final processing of U.S. immigration visas, said Ahmad. A week later Habibi was arrested. His wife, daughter and parents, who waited in Qatar until October for their visas before flying to the United States and settling in California, have not seen or heard from him since. Resolving Habibi's case would be the easiest way for the Taliban, who crave international recognition as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers, to explore improving ties with the U.S., the current U.S. official said. Since Habibi's detention, four other Americans have been arrested and released by the Taliban. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Saeed Shah in Islamabad; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
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Trump-backed peace push leaves Azerbaijan and Armenia one step from final accord, top diplomat says
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The Star
4 hours ago
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Ukraine's Zelenskiy rejects land concessions ahead of Trump-Putin talks
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