P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292058,00.html
Former Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin's Son Jailed for 5 Years for Involvement in
London Gang Murder
Friday, August 03, 2007
LONDON - A son of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has been jailed for five
years after being involved in a gang attack that left a man dead, British
prosecutors said Friday.
Faisal Wangita, 25, was part of a 40-strong gang that attacked Somali
teenager Mahir Osman, 18, in a busy street in north London in January 2006.
Osman was stabbed 20 times, attacked with baseball bats, bottles and
hammers, punched and kicked and died within a minute, Britain's Crown
Prosecution Service said. The attack was caught on camera.
Thirteen people were convicted over the attack at two trials that ended in
April and last week, including three men found guilty of murder. Wangita was
acquitted of murder in April but was then jailed for five years for
conspiracy to wound and violent disorder for apparently kicking Osman when
he was on the ground.
Wangita's conviction could not be reported until Friday because the judge
had imposed a ban on reporting the outcome of the first trial until the
second trial was finished. That ban was lifted Friday.
The jury was not told that Wangita was Amin's son because it was felt it
would prejudice his case. But they were later told of his parentage by Judge
Stephen Kramer, who described him as a "serious risk to the public."
Amin settled in Saudi Arabia after his overthrow in 1979, and died there in
August 2003. Official papers showed Wangita was born in Uganda but he told
police he was born in Saudi Arabia.
Amin, a former military cook, seized power in Uganda in a January 1971 coup.
His eight-year rule was noted for human rights abuses, political repression,
extra-judicial killings and the expulsion of Asians from the central African
country. There is no exact figure for the number of people killed during his
presidency -- estimates range between 50,000 and 500,000.
The dictator's life was featured in last year's film "The Last King Of
Scotland," for which actor Forest Whitaker won an Academy Award. Amin had 40
officially recorded children from seven official wives. Nothing is known
about Wangita's mother.
Former Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin's Son Jailed for 5 Years for Involvement in
London Gang Murder
Friday, August 03, 2007
LONDON - A son of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has been jailed for five
years after being involved in a gang attack that left a man dead, British
prosecutors said Friday.
Faisal Wangita, 25, was part of a 40-strong gang that attacked Somali
teenager Mahir Osman, 18, in a busy street in north London in January 2006.
Osman was stabbed 20 times, attacked with baseball bats, bottles and
hammers, punched and kicked and died within a minute, Britain's Crown
Prosecution Service said. The attack was caught on camera.
Thirteen people were convicted over the attack at two trials that ended in
April and last week, including three men found guilty of murder. Wangita was
acquitted of murder in April but was then jailed for five years for
conspiracy to wound and violent disorder for apparently kicking Osman when
he was on the ground.
Wangita's conviction could not be reported until Friday because the judge
had imposed a ban on reporting the outcome of the first trial until the
second trial was finished. That ban was lifted Friday.
The jury was not told that Wangita was Amin's son because it was felt it
would prejudice his case. But they were later told of his parentage by Judge
Stephen Kramer, who described him as a "serious risk to the public."
Amin settled in Saudi Arabia after his overthrow in 1979, and died there in
August 2003. Official papers showed Wangita was born in Uganda but he told
police he was born in Saudi Arabia.
Amin, a former military cook, seized power in Uganda in a January 1971 coup.
His eight-year rule was noted for human rights abuses, political repression,
extra-judicial killings and the expulsion of Asians from the central African
country. There is no exact figure for the number of people killed during his
presidency -- estimates range between 50,000 and 500,000.
The dictator's life was featured in last year's film "The Last King Of
Scotland," for which actor Forest Whitaker won an Academy Award. Amin had 40
officially recorded children from seven official wives. Nothing is known
about Wangita's mother.
