A Mombasa court hearing a case of the missing Masjid Musa man
Hemed Salim Hemed will hold its sessions today in a rare weekend
extension.
Mr Justice Edward Muriithi made the decision
to sit on a weekend after Nairobi based activist, Mr Okiya Omtatah, who
is one of the two petitioners in the case, asked him to do so.
Mr
Omtatah told the judge that due to the gravity of the case before him,
it would be prudent for all parties to sacrifices their time and sit
today to ensure the case is heard and determined within the shortest
time possible.
Mr Justice Muriithi directed that the
proceeding begins at 10 am until 2 pm where police inspector Evans
Wesonga will be examined and cross examined on the whereabouts of Mr
Hemed.
During the Friday’s afternoon session, emotions
ran high after a video of Mr Hemed’s arrest by police inside Musa mosque
was played in the court.
His wife and other family
members wept as the video was played in court showing police arresting
the man dressed in a white vest and a trouser before being bundled into a
police vehicle.
Haki Africa executive director Hussein
Khalid, who downloaded the video footage from YouTube and Facebook,
testified before it was played in court.
During the cross examination, Mr Khalid denied tempering with the footage saying he downloaded it from the two sites.
The
footage showed police arresting Mr Hemed inside the mosque before
taking him outside and are overheard asking him unspecified questions as
they pull and push him.
Mr Hemed could also be seen
replying to the officers questions and at one point heard saying “Haki
ya Mungu sio mimi.”(I swear in God’s name it is not me)
Video footage
The
court allowed the footage to be played in public after disallowing an
application by lawyers Alexander Muteti and Richard Ngari for the
director of Public Prosecution and Attorney General respectively, for it
to be played in camera.
“It would jeopardise ongoing
investigation. There is also quite number of police officers featured in
that CD and their security need to be considered,” added Mr Muteti.
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