A Malawian has been slapped with terrorism charges after he was allegedly found drawing a sketch of the Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway terminus.
Police claim he intended to use the sketch to commit a terrorism act.
Prosecutors claim they have the sketch which they intend to adduce as evidence. Police also claim he took photographs of the station, a train and himself inside the locomotive, apparently, after arriving from Nairobi by the same train on August 28 at 5.30pm.
A bewildered Kristen Kishombe, who was unrepresented, appeared before Chief Magistrate Julius Nang'ea and denied the charges.
Kishombe told the court that he thought it was normal for any passenger to take photos while aboard the train.
While addressing the court, he told the magistrate that he had been granted a transit visa out of Kenya by the Kenyan authorities.
"I am a football player and I only had the sketch of the terminus out of excitement since I had never seen the SGR in my life," he explained.
He informed the magistrate that he took the photos after he was permitted to do so by security officers manning the SGR terminus.
"If taking photos around the terminus was illegal, the security officers would not have allowed me do that. I feel the police just want to implicate me with issues of terrorism and I have never been in any terrorist group," he said.
He further told the court that he should not be taken as a terrorist since people from Malawi rarely involve themselves with terrorism activities.
"This information given to the court is just meant to put me in hot soup. No Malawian has ever been involved in terrorism and I also have documents showing that I am in Kenya legally," added Kishombe.
The prosecution, however, asked the court to deny him bond and allow the police to hold him in remand for 15 days to complete investigations.
The magistrate allowed police to hold the accused for seven days. He will appear in court on September 7.
