Family disputes police narrative on killed Sheikh Kirevu

Family members of Shiekh Muhammad Kirevu have disputed the police narrative that he was shot dead on Thursday for trying to resist arrest.

The senior Muslim cleric in Makindye Ssabagabo Division, Wakiso district was killed yesterday at his other home in Katereke-Nsangi, Kyengera township on suspicions of running a terror cell. 

Ahamad Kyamanyi, Kirevu's deputy Imam, who was found at the home of the deceased, told URN that on Wednesday, security operatives raided the home of Imam Abbas after midnight, arrested family members whom they questioned about Kirevu's whereabouts.    

Kyamanyi explains that the operatives pounced on the deceased’s elder son, Lukeman Kirevu and beat him until he accepted to take them where his father had slept in Nsangi. The operatives who were reportedly moving in two minibuses locally known as 'drone' took Lukeman, his mother only identified as Mama Lukeman, her daughter Bushira Kirevu to Nsangi where Kirevu was found.

Bushira said moments after arresting their father in Nsangi, they were put in a different vehicle to drive them back home, but after a short distance, they heard gunshots in the second vehicle where their father had been placed.

“Our vehicle did not stop. They drove us back here [in Makindye], but in the morning, we only got information from the chairman in Nsangi that our father was killed while trying to escape," narrated a tearful Bushira.

Kyamanyi said that they still don’t know anything that could have resulted in the death of Kirevu. He says after an earlier house search, one officer informed them that they should go and pick Kirevu's body from Mulago mortuary.  

Audio: Family of senior Muslim cleric in Makindye, Shiekh Muhammad Kirevu says he was shot dead by presidential guards (SFC) in front of his son. Police says Kirevu, a terror suspect was shot dead for trying to resist arrest, an account disputed by the family #Uganda #terrorism pic.twitter.com/s4oO5Tim8y

— The Observer (@observerug) November 19, 2021

Ismail Lubega, a close friend to the family said they are still in shock over the shooting dead of Kirevu by the security agencies. He says the operatives were in plainclothes while others were dressed in the uniform that resembled that of presidential guards, Special Force Command (SFC). 

"They came between 9 am and 10 am and cordoned off the whole neighbourhood. They started confiscating phones from the neighbours who were recording. There was even a journalist who was at the scene, but they confiscated his camera and all his bags…There were those soldiers who drive on the convoy of President Museveni. Their uniform is unique and can’t be mistaken for any other but others were dressed in plain clothes. There was no police only soldiers," Lubega said. 

Farouq Magara, another resident at Gangu B zone, says they have never heard of the Imam participating in any criminal act. He suspects he was killed over the same unknown reasons why Muslim clerics have been killed in these past years.  

Some of the family members who were found grieving at Kirevu's home, question why security agencies would arrest and gruesomely murder someone whom they just suspected before conducting even investigations.

In a statement on Tuesday, President Museveni said the terrorists who carried out the twin bombings that killed 7 people and injured 37 others are the same people who attempted to assassinate Gen Katumba Wamala. According to Museveni, 8 suspects have so far been shot dead by security while trying to escape.