Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's son jailed in connection with London gang murder

A son of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has been jailed for five years for his involvement in a gang attack that left a man dead, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Friday.

Photo: Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's son jailed in connection with London gang murder

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, prosecutors 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 jailed for five years for conspiracy to wound and violent disorder for kicking Osman when he was on the ground.

Wangita's conviction was not immediately reported because the other case was still ongoing.

The jury was not told 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. He died there in August 2003. Official papers showed Wangita was born in Uganda but he told police he was born in the gulf Kingdom.

Amin had 40 officially recorded children from seven official wives. Nothing is known about Wangita's mother.

Amin seized power in Uganda in a January 1971 coup. His eight-year rule saw a catalog of human rights abuses, political repression, extra-judicial killings and the expulsion of Asians from the 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 the subject of last year's film "The Last King Of Scotland," for which actor Forest Whitaker won an Academy Award.