Ssali was deported after serving 18 months in a UK prison

By Vision Reporter

AFTER 18 months in a Manchester Prison, Mohamed Ssali was bundled onto the next British Airways flight out of UK and deported to Uganda recently.

“My mother died in 1996. And my dad is in UK with his new girlfriend. All I have here is a sister Prossy Nalubega in Masaka but I do not even have her contacts,” Ssali told Saturday Vision on arrival at Entebbe International Airport.

He was received by Mission After Custody director, Morris Kizito. All Ssali had was a prison t-shirt, an army style camouflage pant, a pair of slippers and travel documents.

Ssali went to the UK in March 2003 to join his father and soon got a permit of leave to stay indefinitely. He studied IT and went through rigorous training to join Arsenal football club.

But his woes began one evening as he was strolling back home in Manchester, when met this girl.

Little did he know that the girl was a minor. Soon they hit a romantic path. She visited and they had sex.
Three nights later, Ssali’s door bell rang and he found the Police waving their badges and a warrant of arrest. “We are arresting you for rape,” said one officer.

That was the last time he saw freedom. Before being sentenced, he had to report to a police station everyday.

He also had to be home by 7:00pm and his movements were under surveillance.

“I managed to access my 900 pounds and hired the services of an independent solicitor,” says Ssali. “consequently, the charge was reduced to having sex with a minor, not rape.”

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Back in Uganda, Ssali has no home. His mother passed away in 1996 in a motor accident.
HAP director Kintu says: “We receive 10-15 cases every year, but many don’t come to us. others are too embarrassed to talk about their ordeal.”

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