Two Ugandans have been jailed after pleading guilty to terrorism charges related to a coordinated bomb attack on the capital last year that killed 79 people watching the world cup final in, according to Reuters. Kampala's High Court handed Edris Nsubuga a 25-year prison term after he admitted planting the explosives but was spared the death sentence after offering to help pin down other suspects and submitting a guilty plea. "Notwithstanding the gravity of the offenses committed and the callousness with which they were committed ... I have hearkened to his expression of contrition," Judge Chigamony Owniy-Dollo told the court. "I sentence him to 25 years in jail. I do hope he uses his time in prison as a retreat to reflect on the full enormity of his action." An associate, Muhamoud Mugisha, 25, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced to a five-year prison term for conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was retribution for Uganda's troop deployments in Mogadishu as part of an African Union peace keeping mission. The east African country has contributed the majority of troops shoring up Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, which at present controls little beyond the Somali capital. In the weeks after the blasts, Uganda arrested more than 30 suspects, Ugandan and foreign, but has since released most of them. Uganda on Monday freed Kenyan human rights activist Al-Amin Kimathi who was arrested in September last year in connection with the attacks after the public prosecutor decided to drop all charges against him. -- SPA
