Outrage and fear over terror suspects roaming free

By WILLIS OKETCH and CYRUS OMBATI

Mombasa, Kenya: Several of Kenya’s most notorious terror suspects are roaming free after they were released by court pending the hearing of their cases, and police fear they could be planning more deadly attacks.

Most of them jumped bail as soon as courts ordered that they be released from police custody and only appear during proceedings.

 And the laws that grant bail to terror suspects were under scrutiny yesterday, with security analysts and legal experts warning that freeing terror suspects was exposing the country to more risks.

They said the country was handling suspects too softly despite the threat posed by the militants.

 Charged with terror-related cases, including belonging to the militant al-Shabaab terror group, they include two who jumped bail and could have fled to Somalia. Police say one planned and executed a deadly attack days after a Nairobi court granted him bail. Officers have been unable to trace him since.

 Two others released by courts on bail were shot dead by police, one when he sneaked back into Kenya from Somalia. Officers who spoke to The Standard on Saturday said Kenya was facing too big a threat to grant freedom to suspects believed to have contributed to the deaths of scores of people.

 Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said as things stand now, prosecutors and police could only plead with courts to order that the suspects remain in custody, since the courts were acting within the law.

Thin line

 This represents a headache for law enforcement agencies as Kenya walks a thin line between punishing terror suspects and granting them rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Penal Code.

 Scores of people have died from terror attacks in recent months. They include six killed in a grenade attack in Eastleigh on Monday, and five shot dead in a church attack in Likoni, Mombasa, last week.

 One suspect, Hussein Nur Mohammed, was accused of involvement in planning an attack in which an improvised explosive device was planted in a matatu in Pangani, Nairobi, last year. Before the incident, Mohammed had been released on bail as he faced terror-related charges in a Nairobi court.

 A police source said yesterday Mohammed is feared to have fled to Somalia soon after the attack. Police have circulated his picture and asked the public to volunteer information, but this is yet to yield result.

 Another high-profile suspect, Faud Abubakar Manswab, is roaming free after he jumped bail granted by a Mombasa court back in 2011. That year, police stormed a house in Kisauni, Mombasa, and arrested British terror suspect Jermaine Grant, Manswab and another woman suspect, Warda Breikh. 

 Anti-terror police said they found explosives in the house and the suspects were committed to trial on several charges. Stringent bail terms were set. Manswab was set free on a Sh20 million bond, one of the highest in Kenyan history.

 After attending the trial several times in Senior Principal Magistrate Joyce Jandani’s court, Manswab fled without trace. The release of a high-profile suspect like Manswab is among issues that bring Kenya’s law into sharp focus.

He is seen as an important suspect because of his association with Jermaine Grant, who is facing trial for bomb plots. Grant is an associate of Samantha Lewthwaite, also known as the “white widow”.

 Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai was concerned by the release of suspects, but said the country had adequate laws to deal with the threat if they are well utilised. He was referring to the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which took effect in October 2012. However, criminal lawyer Pravin Bowry said the law appears to have been underutilised.

 “The challenge we have within the criminal justice system is in ensuring that the investigators, the prosecutors, the magistrates, judges and correctional facilities are sensitised sufficiently as to the magnitude of the problem and the need to work together as one co-ordinate mechanism,” the AG told The Standard on Saturday yesterday. However, experts said the country needs more stringent laws to decisively deal with terrorism.

 Mwenda Mbijiwe, a counter-terrorism expert and former Kenya Defence Forces soldier, said the law should be amended to deal more firmly with suspects in the wake of recent killings. They should be denied bail, he said, and called for stiffer ways of deterring attacks.

 He also called for special detention facilities so that terror suspects and convicts do not mix with other inmates.

Radicalisation

 “There could be a lot of radicalisation going on behind bars. We need a remote jail, for instance on islands on Lake Victoria, where the suspects can be detained. We have accorded them so much freedom at the moment,” he said.  Kimaiyo said those on the run were deemed dangerous and could commit more crimes.

 “The release of these suspects on bail has been our concern and we always try to convince the magistrates and judges to consider the danger they pose and deny them the freedom. They should be in jail,” he said.

Other terror suspects have been released on bail, only to escape and get killed by Kenyan police later. For instance, a preacher named Khaled Hamid was released on bail by a court in Kilifi in 2012.

He jumped bail, reportedly fled for terror training in Somalia, and was gunned down last year soon after his return.