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HOPE: Inmates at Luzira Prison

FIVE PRISONERS who languished on Luzira Prison’s death row for 20 years have walked free from jail, after a ruling from the Supreme Court.

AllAfrica.com said the inmates were the first to be released without a presidential pardon.

Their release was made possible by a ruling from the Supreme Court that said condemned inmates should either be executed within three years or their sentences should be commuted to life imprisonment.

The five prisoners were released because they had served the 20 years Uganda stipulates for life imprisonment.

They were named as Hajji Mohammed Birikkadde Kasoozi, who was sentenced to death in 1982 for kidnap and Isaiah Bikumu, Ben Ogwang Simba and Fred Tindigwihuura, who was convicted in Hoima in 1987.

The fifth man, convicted robber Yowana Serunkuma, also qualified to be released but remained in prison because he once tried to escape, New Vision newspaper said.

It added that the ruling in January has given other condemned inmates renewed hope of surviving the gallows.

But prison spokesman Frank Baine said hanging, which is still legal, can be carried out anytime.

"If the government adheres to the ruling of the Supreme Court, executions will be more frequent compared to the past," Baine said.

Published: 23 November 2009
Issue: 1399

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