Westgate attack suspect loses second bid for bail

 

The four Westgate mall terror suspects in court. Photo/Paul Waweru 

By VINCENT AGOYA

In Summary

• Mohamed Ahmed, a madrassa teacher, lost his appeal against an earlier ruling that declined his release stating he remains in custody over security reasons.

A court has for a second time rejected a request to have one of the suspects in the Westgate shopping mall attack released on bond.

Mr Mohamed Ahmed, a madrassa teacher, lost his appeal against an earlier ruling that declined his release stating he remains in custody over security reasons.

The court said it had taken judicial notice of the numerous terrorism acts in the country and cannot risk releasing the suspect facing  a “serious charge” emanating from one of such atrocities which is “still fresh in the minds of the citizens.”

Mr Ahmed, is charged alongside three others -Mr Liban Abdullah, Mr Adan Dheq and Mr Hussein Hassan. The four suspects have been linked to the Westgate shopping mall terrorist attack in Nairobi on September 21, 2013 that killed at least 67 people.

READ: Suspects of Westgate mall terror attack denied bail

Mr Ahmed is further accused of giving shelter to one Abdikadir Hared Mohammed alias Mohammed Hussein at Salman Al-Faris Madrassa on Eastleigh’s Muyuyu Avenue on October 7.

The prosecution says he harboured a fugitive he “knew had committed a terrorist act.” He is also accused of obtaining a Kenyan identity card at the national registration bureau in Mandera town by false pretences. He faces further charges of being in the country illegally.

The affidavit, sworn by a senior ranking anti-terrorism investigator, which two magistrates have upheld states that the suspects are believed to have been involved in the attack alongside accomplices who were either killed in the hostage rescue operation or escaped and are on the run.

According to the prosecution the four suspects were either “directly or indirectly” involved in the attack.

Forty witnesses have been lined up for the trial which begins mid January 2014.

The suspect had told court that bail was his constitutional right and that he remained innocent until proven otherwise.

He had also opined that the fact that suspected  accomplices are yet to be apprehended should not be used to determine his fate. He had also sworn to abide by whatever conditions the court may have pegged on his release.