 A judge began deliberating Friday on the fate of three Kenyans accused of conspiracy to bomb an Israeli-owned hotel and of attempts to shoot down an Israeli airliner north of the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. Prosecutors have pressed for the maximum penalty of three years in jail, but defense lawyers say the accused should be found innocent because authorities failed to prove they were involved in planning the attacks. As the trial ended Friday, Nairobi Chief Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule said he will deliver judgment on June 21.
The suspects — Kubwa Mohammed Seif, Said Saggar Ahmed and Salmin Mohammed Khamis — are charged with conspiracy related to the November 2002 car bomb attack that killed 15 people, including three Israeli tourists. They are also charged in connection with a near-simultaneous, but failed, attempt to shoot down an Israeli aircraft taking off from an airport in nearby Mombasa.
| And they're up for a maximum of three years? |
| It's positively ... European. |
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