Iranians Ahamad Abolfathi Mohammed, and Sayed Mansour Mousavi, who are
serving life sentences for being found with explosives. They have been
freed after an appeal. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Two Iranians who were jailed for 15 years in 2013 over terror
related charges on Friday secured their freedom after the Court of
Appeal ruled that there was no sufficient evidence to link them to the
bomb making material recovered in 2012.
The High Court
had found Ahamad Abolfathi Mohammed, and Sayed Mansour Mousavi, guilty
of concealing 15 kilogrammes of bomb making material in the country.
WEAK
On
Friday, however, Appellate Judges Kihara Kariuki, Kathurima M’inoti and
Agnes Murgor held that the circumstantial evidence relied on by both
the High Court, and Magistrate Court, was so weak that it did not point
to them as the only persons who could have placed the bomb making
material, RDX, at the Mombasa Golf Course where it was found.
The
court observed that the golf course was not fenced or guarded and it
was possible for any member of the public to have entered it and place
the RDX where it was found.
The judges also directed
that the two be set free forthwith, but also that upon being set free,
“Mr Abolfathi and Mr Mansour shall forthwith be repatriated back to
their country.”
ARREST
In
the appellate court judgment, the judges further observed that the two
Iranians have been in custody from the date of their arrest on June 19,
2012.
According to the law, the High Court was supposed
to take into account the period that they had spent in custody before
they were sentenced.
“Although the learned judge of the
High Court stated that he had taken into account the period Mr
Abolfathi and Mr Mansour had been in custody, he ordered that their
sentence shall take effect from the date of their conviction by the
trial court,” appellate court judges.
According to the
prosecution, RDX is a secondary explosive. It cannot explode on its own
but requires a stimulus consisting of some energy in form of mechanical
heat or flame or friction for it to set off.
It has a very high degree of stability in storage and is considered as one of the most powerful military explosives.
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