Justice Mugambe sentencing in UK: what we know so far

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The Government has joined Ugandans living in the United Kingdom (UK) to give support to Lady Justice Lydia Mugambe Ssali, as she awaits her sentencing on Friday, May 02, 2025.

The Ugandan Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, said the Government would support Mugambe, 49, who was recently convicted in a UK court.

The pledge comes a few days after Ugandans living and working in the UK mobilised colleagues to turn up in big numbers when Mugambe comes back to court for sentencing.  

The Oxford Crown Court on March 13, 2025, convicted Justice Mugambe on four counts related to modern slavery, which include trafficking a Ugandan woman to the UK under false pretences, forced labour, an immigration offence, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.

Mugambe is a Ugandan judge of the High Court, a position she has held since 2013. She also doubles as a judge of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, an appointment that has been running since May 2023. 

The Ugandans in the UK said Mugambe is a high-profile person that the Government of Uganda must intervene and secure her release from jail, maintaining that she was a victim of many circumstances. They also pray that the presiding court gives her a fair sentence. 

Speaking to this website, the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, in an interview, stated that indeed they were supporting the judge from many perspectives, but did not want to disclose details of the nature of the support.

“It is true Uganda is rendering the necessary support to Justice Mugambe, we shall do all that we can to help her,” Kiryowa Kiwanuka committed, adding that the nature of the support will also be determined by what she wants since her prosecution is a private matter.

Other sources indicated that various Ugandan lawyers were also keenly waiting for the outcome of the sentencing to decide on the next course of action. 

The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Waiswa Bagiire, when contacted, said the ministry was also keenly aware and following all events. He, however, said there was nothing much they could do until after Mugambe’s sentencing.

“As a country, we cannot interfere with the judicial process of another country, but we are waiting for the sentencing, and then we will determine our next course of action,” he stated.

He added, “The sentencing will be the completion of the judicial process, then as Government we will come in to determine our next move, otherwise before that we cannot do much”.

Last week, the Government, in a landmark diplomatic development, formalised a prisoner exchange arrangement with the UK, allowing convicted Ugandans currently serving sentences in British prisons to be transferred back home to complete their jail terms.

The move was made official through a new statutory instrument number 37 of 2025, titled “The Transfer of Convicted Offenders (Application of Act to the UK). The Statutory instrument was signed on April 3,  2025, by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao, acting under powers conferred upon him by the Transfer of Convicted Offenders Act, Cap. 134.

Sources said the statutory instrument marks a new chapter in the enforcement of criminal justice between Uganda and the UK and opens the door for mutual consideration of prisoner transfers under agreed terms and conditions. Sources further explained that under diplomacy, the swap can also be in the form of a favour extended to a country that has no convicted offenders to be exchanged.

Mugambe moved to the UK to pursue a doctorate (PhD) in law at the University of Oxford. During the trial, the court was told that Mugambe conspired with former Ugandan deputy high commissioner, John Leonard Mugerwa, to arrange for the young lady’s entry into the UK under false pretences.

Prosecution led by Caroline Haughey KC painted Mugambe as an opportunist who used her legal knowledge to manipulate the system for her personal benefit. He argued that Mugambe’s actions were deliberate and calculated, emphasising that she lied to authorities about the purpose of the young lady’s visit and later attempted to shield herself from scrutiny by manipulating the narrative.

However, Mugambe’s defence team insisted that she was shocked and became emotional during police questioning, insisting that she had never forced anyone into unpaid labour. According to her legal counsel, Mugambe’s initial misstatements to the police were not lies, but rather panic-driven responses to an unexpected situation.

A Ugandan living in the UK, who referred to herself as Princess Rebecca Marion, said many Ugandans were touched by Mugambe’s trial and conviction in a case they thought would be simple. They said they were anxiously waiting for the sentencing before their next course of action.

“We found a lot of loopholes in the trial of Justice Mugambe, for example, there was a lot of bias because the jury did not have a black representative. All officials who were in this case were white, including lawyers”.

“We believe a black person would better understand many issues brought against the accused, especially those relating to our cultural norms, especially when dealing with people who live with us in our families,” she explained, adding that many Ugandans who have been following the trial were looking at the option of appealing.

She said other issues like the relationship between Mugambe and the young woman in question needed to have been reviewed before the conviction, in particular referring to the cordial bonding between Mugambe and the woman for the past ten years, during which she treated her as a big sister, not a slave as portrayed.

“We are still seeking more fairness in this matter, because we realised that the trial contained a lot of biases because of the cultural divide,” Marion stated. She added that, indeed, if Mugambe treated the young woman as a slave, she would not have extended financial support, including securing her money to buy land back in Uganda.