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| Africa Horn |
| Four Shabaab women face new terror related charges in Kenya |
| 2015-12-12 |
| Four women suspected of being members of Al-Shabaab could face new terror related charges. The Director of Public Prosecutions made the application in a Mombasa court on Wednesday evening a few hours after the High Court declined to revise or cancel the Sh500,000 bond imposed on Ms Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla, Ms Khadija Abubakar Abdulkadir, Ms Maryam Said Aboud and Ms Halima Adan. The four appeared before Chief Magistrate Julius Nange’a for a plea that was deferred. Defence lawyer Chacha Mwita questioned why the women were taken to court late in the evening yet the prosecution had time to file the case during the day. Prosecution Counsel Lydia Kagori said the plea was a matter of urgency. The magistrate directed that the women be remanded at Shimo la Tewa Maximum Prison. One of the new charges says the women organised a meeting in Nairobi on March 26, 2015 to plan how to cross into Somalia to support the Al-Shabaab terror group. The second charge says on the same day, the four and some foreigners outside Kenya, including a Tanzanian, Ms Abdalla, conspired to carry out terrorist attacks in the country. The women were arrested at El Wak border point in Mandera County on March 27 while allegedly trying to sneak into Somalia. Earlier, the Mombasa High court declined to revoke their bond. “Having deliberated on the reasons for the application to cancel the bond and the circumstances surrounding the case, I found nothing illegal, improper, irregular or incorrect in the orders by the trial court in which the accused were granted a Sh500,000 bond each with one surety of a similar amount,” Justice Dorah Chepkwony said. “In dismissing the application to review the orders, I took cognisant of the nature and gravity of the offence and also the frequency with which these acts are occurring in the country,” she said. Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo had earlier released the four on bond but Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alexander Muteti moved to the High Court to cancel it. |
| Posted by:Steve White |