Benedicto Kiwanuka by Idi Amin immediately after the coup that brought Amin to power. Amin appointed him as chief justice of Uganda on 27 June 1971. Kiwanuka soon came into confrontation with Amin's disregard for the rule of law. In the immediate aftermath of Obote's abortive counter coup of 1972, Kiwanuka was arrested at gunpoint by Amin's men as he presided over a session of the High Court. As well as countermanding from the bench some of Amin's more draconian orders, Kiwanuka had also secretly agreed to support Obote's return to power, with the proviso that Kiwanuka would be involved in constitutional
Hafizullah Amin did not participate in the meeting. This, according to Beverley Male, "suggested that some plot against Amin was in preparation". Taraki was instructed to stop-over in Moscow, where the Soviet leaders urged him to remove Amin from power as per the KGB's decision, because Amin posed danger. Amin's trusted aid, Daoud Taroon, informed Amin of the meeting and the KGB's plan. In Kabul, Taraki's aides, the Gang of Four (consisting of Watanjar, Mazdoryar, Gulabzoi and Sarwari), planned a plot to assassinate Amin, but it failed as Amin was informed of this. Within hours of Taraki's return to Kabul on 11