Nile Treasure Gate Directors To Face 15 Years In Prison Over Judith Nakintu’s Case Whose Kidney Was Removed In Saudi Arabia

By Uganda Online Media

Kampala: The Chief Magistrates Court in Nakawa, Kampala has remanded to Kitalya prison, the directors of Nile Treasure Gate, a labor export company that took Judith Nakintu a Ugandan migrant worker whose kidney was removed while working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Nakintu, a single mother of five was recruited in 2019 by Nile Treasure Gate Company as a housemaid to work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and flew on December 12, 2019.

However, while working as a housemaid Saad Dhafer Mohamed Al-Asmari , Nakintu lost her right kidney in unexplained circumstances while at King Fahad Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Whereas authorities in Saudi Arabia maintain she had been involved in an accident that left her paralyzed, a medical examination and subsequent report done in Uganda indicated that her right kidney was missing contrary to the Saidi Arabia medical report that indicated that Nakintu’s internal organs were intact.

Police inquiries also established that suspects forged medical reports to hoodwink the victim and her family that all her internal organs were intact which was contrary to the tests that were done in Uganda.

Appearing before Nakawa Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Akullo Ogwal on Friday, two directors of the labor export company including Abubaker Sulaiman Kato, 33, Mariam Muhammad, 31; Salma Muhammad, 43 a board member, Ali Hassan Male,18 an agent and Jeniffer Milly Nalunga,32, a supervisor were charged with aggravated trafficking in persons contrary to section 3(1)(a) and 4(i) of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009.

According to court documents, the group and others still at large between December 2019 and October 2021 between Kampala district of Uganda and Saudi Arabia organized, facilitated, made preparation for sending to receiving, or confining Judith Nakintu by means of fraud or deceit, or abuse of power of the position of vulnerability for purposes of removal of a body part or organ.

The group was is also accused of recruiting, facilitating, and transporting Nakintu to Saudi Arabia for purposes of exploitation that saw the Ugandan girl suffer mutilation and a life-threatening illness.

The two directors of the company, a board member, agent and a supervisor were also charged with working in a syndicate to facilitate and transfer Judith Nakintu by means of fraud, deceit and abuse of positions of vulnerability for purposes of the girl’s exploitation.

The group denied the charges but the state prosecutors including Doreen Erima and Joseph Kyomuhendo told the court that investigations into the matter are still ongoing and it’s from this point that Magistrate Elizabeth Akullo decided to remand the group to Kitalya Government prison until March 14, 2022.

Human Organ Black Market

According to the Deputy National Coordinator Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Agnes Igoye, there are people in Uganda collaborating with people in Saudi Arabia noting that there is an existing and increasing black market for human organs and organ trafficking, including human kidneys.

The trade is said to involve syndicated cartels that extract human organs from patients for sale to local collaborators who, in turn, find a market abroad, including the Middle East.

Other victims are Ugandans desperate for employment who, are reportedly trafficked abroad, promising them good jobs only to admit them to healthcare facilities where their organs are removed.

Some victims are compensated with little money, forced on the planes, and die in the process.

The culprits are always labor export companies like Nile Treasure Gate Company, managers of orphanages, medical workers, and immigration officials, among others.

The law

According to section 3(1)(a) of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009 says a person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbors or receives a person, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation commits an offense and is liable to imprisonment for 15 years.