The terrorism trial of former ADF leader Jamil Mukulu and 24 others entered its fourth day on Wednesday with testimonies from two key prosecution witnesses. One was a Mulago National Referral Hospital doctor who examined the body of slain Shia leader Sheikh Abdul Khadir Dukitoor Muwaya. The other was Dakar Yasin, a crime preventer from Mayuge Town Council and a victim in the case who sustained gunshot wounds to his right leg and left arm.
The doctor, who requested anonymity for security reasons, testified before the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala, where four judges are presiding over the case: Michael Elubu (panel head), Dr. Andrew Bashaija, Lady Justice Susan Okalany, and Justice Stephen Mubiru. The witness told the court that Sheikh Muwaya was identified to him at the Kampala City Mortuary by Hajji Abdul Noor Kasolo.
He said the deceased was wearing a blood-stained Kanzu with holes and a neck scarf. He confirmed that the condition of the body pointed to a violent attack. He added that Sheikh Muwaya was wearing brown shorts and had Kenyan currency recovered from his breast pocket. The body also had bullet entry and exit wounds on the left arm and chest, fractured ribs, a broken breastbone, and a perforated heart. The doctor confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death.
He signed and stamped the post-mortem reports on July 16, 2014, and December 26, 2014. Both were admitted as prosecution exhibits. The second witness was 39-year-old farmer Ndibogeza Salaama from Namayingo District, a neighbour of the late Namayingo LC3 Chairperson Tito Okware, who was gunned down at his home in Namavundu Village on February 1, 2015, by men riding a Bajaj motorcycle. Ndibogeza testified that on the afternoon of the murder, she was cooking food for gold miners at a restaurant in Nakudi Village when she saw a man called Ibrah riding a motorcycle.
She said she did not know his name but recognised him by face. Ndibogeza added that Ibrah made a phone call before leaving with another man. She left the restaurant at around 7 p.m. and, while passing Okware’s home, saw two men parked by the roadside acting suspiciously. She also noticed a man in a bluish long jacket emerging from a nearby bush and heading towards a primary school near the deceased’s home.
Moments after reaching her own home and removing her child from her back, she heard gunshots, an alarm, wailing, and the sound of a motorcycle speeding away. She ran to the scene and found the area chairman dead in his compound, with blood on the ground and one eye missing.
Ndibogeza said neighbours told her the killers fled on a motorcycle and were the same men seen lingering near the home earlier. Court adjourned and will continue hearing her testimony today, November 20, 2025. The trial opened on Monday, November 17, with testimony from a relative of the deceased, Ekweny Vincent, who was with Okware when he was shot.
Ekweny identified the shooter as Kabambwe Ali, alias Munakenya, a 39-year-old sand miner from Girigiri Village, Maina Parish, Mpugwe Subcounty, Mayuge District. Mukulu and the 24 co-accused face charges of terrorism, murder, aggravated robbery, attempted murder, and belonging to the terrorist organization Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
According to evidence presented at the pre-trial stage by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lino Anguzu, Mukulu is indicted as the ADF leader and head of the Salaf Muslim community in Uganda. The prosecution is led by Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka and Assistant DPP Thomas Jatiko, while the defence is represented by a team headed by Evans Ochieng.
The prosecution alleges that between 2011 and 2015, Mukulu and his co-accused carried out murders and robberies in several districts, including Mayuge, Bugiri, Tororo, Mbarara, Namayingo, Kampala, Wakiso, Jinja, Mbale, and Budaka. It further claims that between 2011 and 2014, the group acquired firearms, underwent military training in neighbouring countries, and secured funding to advance political, religious, and social motives through violence.
Among the charges are the murders of prominent Muslim clerics Sheikh Yunus Abubaker Mandanga and Sheikh Dakitoor Muwaya. The group is also accused of attacking Bugiri Police Station and killing officers Karim Tenywa and Muzamir Babale. The accused were arrested in Uganda and Tanzania between 2014 and 2015.
Their charges date back to the 1998 ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute, in which more than 80 students were killed. Although the group was committed to trial in September 2019 by then High Court Judge Eva Luswata—now a Constitutional Court Judge—no substantive hearing took place until this week.
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