Terror suspect 'on holiday in Kenya'

Zanzibari medical student and terror suspect Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla flew into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from Khartoum, Sudan, on March 23 this year.

A prosecution witness, an immigration officer who works at the airport, said the woman arrived aboard Ethiopian Airlines and claimed she wanted to holiday in Kenya for three months. Ms Abdalla, 19, is a student at Khartoum's International University of Africa.

She and three Kenyan women, Maryam Said Aboud, Khadija Abdulkadir Abubakar and Halima Adan Ali are charged with belonging to Al Shabaab, a terrorist group.

While being cross-examined by defence lawyer Hamisi Mwadzogo at Shanzu Law Courts yesterday, the immigration officer, Gilbert Nawate said Abdalla arrived at JKIA airport on March 23 this year at 6.30pm.

"I was on duty at the International arrival terminal where Abdalla came for clearing with her Tanzanian passport and claimed she was a university student in Sudan and had visited the country for holiday," Mr Nawate told Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo.

Nawate said the accused then passed through the normal security check up at the airport and her name did not appear anywhere on the system as a wanted criminal or terrorist.

The officer said he cleared the accused after confirming her passport was valid.

"I stamped it for a three-month visa which was due on June 22, 2015," said Nawate.

However, the immigration officer could not remember whether the passport had a Sudan exit stamp neither could he recognise the face of the accused.

He said the terminal clears over 30,000 people every year and he could, therefore, not identify a person unless he looked at their photos.

Prosecution counsel Ngina Mutua requested for adjournment to allow the witness to identify the exit stamp. But Mr Mwadzogo objected saying the accused is a student who needs to go back to school and adjourning the case would affect her education.

"The prosecution had informed the court that they have two witnesses and are ready to proceed. Let the second witness come before court and testify," he said.

Mwadzogo also argued that production of a passport was sufficient to test the credibility of the witness.

He said that adjourning the case, which was slated for a two-day hearing, is an indication that the State had breached its appeal to deny the accused bond.

"This means we may revisit the issue of bond to enable the accused go back to school as the prosecution continues to prepare on how to produce the witness," he said.

The magistrate said the four accused can reapply for bond as they await their hearing on October 1, 2015.