Most wanted man on police terrorism list gunned down

By  BENARD SANGA and TOBIA CHANJI

A man on an anti-terrorism police’s most wanted list was gunned down inside a bus in Diani hours after attending the trial of his sister who is facing terrorism charges at the Mombasa Law Courts.

Hassan Suleiman Mwayuyu has been cited on two police lists of alleged terror masterminds in Coast and on Monday a text message believed to have originated from the state security agencies claimed he had recently returned from training with Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia to fuel radicalism and rebellion in Kwale, Changamwe and Kisauni.

The Standard On Saturday established Mr Hassan Suleiman is the brother-in-law of Hassan Nyiro, a man police described as an Al-Shabaab trained militant when they killed him in Kisauni, Mombasa in June 26 this year.

Nyiro’s wife Rahma Hassan whose trial the deceased attended before he was killed is facing charges on weapon possession. Human rights agencies, relatives and friends condemned Thursday’s killing, describing it as an extra-judicial execution.

Hussein Khalid, the Executive Director of Haki Africa, a human rights organisation, said, “due process was not followed,” and warned that if the State was involved in the killings the outcome of the alleged extra-judicial killing will be counter-productive.

“We must always insist on the rule of law. We must have faith in institutions even when they fail us,” he said referring to the killing amid reports that the deceased had been accused of terrorism links.

He warned that this kind of killing could breed radicalism and extremism.

Mr Khalid told The Standard on Saturday that relatives had told his organisation that police issued a veiled warning to the deceased inside the law courts as he was leaving the trial of his sister at the Mombasa law courts.

Khalid said that police implied that Hassan was fomenting trouble among Muslims in Kwale, an allegation with Monday’s text message that accused him of plotting a campaign against churches and moderate Muslims early this week.

Police in Kwale gave scanty reports about the 8pm incident. Kwale OCPD Richard Mugwai told The Standard on Saturday “Hassan Mwayuyu was killed inside a 29 seater mini-bus,” adding: “we are still investigating.”