[JURIST] A former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] detainee was arrested Tuesday in connection with the murder of Ugandan Senior Principal State Attorney Joan Kagezi last month. Ugandan citizen Jamal Kiyemba was apprehended [VICE news report] along with three others in the Ugandan Capital of Kampala by a joint operation of the Ugandan Police Force and US military troops. Kiyemba, who was released from Guantanamo in 2006, was first detained in Pakistan in 2002 for suspected links to al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban. Kagezi was killed in drive-by shooting while on her way home in March. At the time, she was the lead prosecutor in the trial of 13 men accused of carrying out bombing attacks [WP report] in Kampala in 2010 that left more than 80 people dead.

The continued operation of the Guantanamo military prison has sparked considerable controversy and political debate. In February the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] rescinded [JURIST report] a new rule that required military judges presiding over war crimes tribunals at the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay to relocate to Cuba. In January a US Army prosecutor argued [JURIST report] that a military court order barring female guards at Guantanamo from touching an alleged al Qaeda commander violates Pentagon sex discrimination guidelines. Also in January a defense lawyer sought [JURIST report] to have the charges dropped against Guantanamo prisoner and suspected Iraqi al Qaeda commander Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, arguing that the US is violating international law and the Constitution by prosecuting him for war crimes.