A man arrested in Eastleigh nearly four years ago will serve a lengthy prison term after the Kahawa Law Courts found him guilty of belonging to the Al-Shabaab terror group and committing a series of terrorism-related offences.
Principal Magistrate Gideon Kiage on Friday convicted the suspect on seven counts before sentencing him to prison terms adding up to 115 years. However, the sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will not serve them one after another.
According to the ODPP, the prosecution produced ten witnesses whose evidence left the court convinced that the case against the accused had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Some of the offenses that the accused person was found guilty of include being a member of the Al-Shabaab group, gathering information for terrorist activities, and having terrorism-related materials.
In its arguments to the court, the prosecution stated that the police had found a mobile phone in the possession of the accused when he was arrested in September 2022. The analysis of the mobile phone allegedly revealed videos supporting extremist views, including those that had information on recruitment, radicalization, and terrorist training.
The accused was arrested during a security operation in the Eastleigh estate in Nairobi.
For the offence of belonging to Al-Shabaab, the court handed him a 20-year jail term, with separate prison sentences imposed for the remaining counts.
Although the total sentence amounts to 115 years, the court directed that all the sentences be served concurrently. Magistrate Kiage also ordered that the convict undergo a deradicalisation programme while in prison.
This follows a wave of alleged Al-Shabaab attacks that were witnessed in various regions in northern Kenya in the past two weeks.
Earlier this week, six people sustained injuries when a car exploded near a suspected improvised explosive device in Odole village in Mandera county.
Also, this week, there have been allegations of an attack on a communication tower in Abakaile village in Garissa county, where a teacher went missing.
The attacks come at a time when, on July 24, suspected Al-Shabaab extremists attacked two towns in Lafey constituency in Mandera county.
This is a victory for the government in its war against terror as more efforts are being directed towards arresting suspects of terrorism.
