Former prime minister of Toro sentenced to death

The former prime minister of the western Kingdom of Toro, John Sanyu Katuramu, was sentenced to death by the High Court in Kampala on Wednesday for the murder of Toro's Prince Happy Kijanangoma, 'The New Vision' government-owned newspaper reported. Katuramu's nephew, Patrick Kwezi, and Alex Twinomugisha, a former Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier, were also sentenced to hang for the murder of Kijanangoma and his bodyguard in the western town of Fort Portal in March 1999. High Court Judge Katutsi was quoted as saying by 'The New Vision' that the prosecution had proved Katuramu paid the killers, gave them transport from Kampala to Fort Portal and back, and allowed them to stay at his farm on the night of the murder. The killing took place at the height of a power struggle in the Kingdom of Toro, the BBC said. Meanwhile, a former aide to one-time dictator Idi Ami has been released after 18 years on death row, the BBC reported on Thursday. President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday pardoned and ordered the release of Lt-Col Nasur Abdalla, convicted of the 1972 murder of the mayor of Masaka, in southwestern Uganda. The colonel gained notoriety as governor of Kampala Province, when anyone contravening his order forbidding the wearing of sandals was forced to eat them before being lashed, the BBC said.