Medic found guilty of terrorism, lover set free

Mohamed Abdi Ali had a bright future and was perhaps among the brilliant brains in the country, having made his name in the medical field.

Maybe today he would be in the streets picketing for a better pay as a doctor or joined or quietly making a shilling while serving humanity.

Despite having pursued such a noble profession, the court’s finding on Friday indicated that his heart and mind were planning the opposite, destroying humanity through terrorism.

The court agreed with State Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu by finding him guilty of five counts, and ushered him a step closer to jail. He was acquitted in three of the charges.

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By the time he was arrested in 2016, Abdi was a medical intern at Wote Hospital.

Eight years later, a dejected man was found to have been a part of a terror group, having terrorism materials, advocating for terrorism acts and recruitment of members to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also Known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

When Abdi was charged, he faced the long hand of the law alongside his wife Nuseiba Mohammed who was medical student on attachment at Mubende Hospital in Uganda.

However, the judgment by Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku separated the two lovebirds. Mutuku acquitted Nuseiba, while Abdi will be sentenced on April 22, 2024.

At the same time, the court acquitted Abdirahman Adris Hassan and Salah Mohamed Khalif after finding that there was no evidence to support the charges against them.

The duo were accused of advocating, promoting, advising and facilitating terrorist groups and giving directions for the commission of terror attacks.

They were also accused of radicalising youths in the country by giving them extremists Islamic teachings as well as recruiting them to join terrorist groups.

In the meantime, Security agencies said that Abdi was a close associate of another terrorist Mohamed Abdi Ali who was arrested on April 29 at Wote, Makueni County as the three were on the planning stage of a terror attack and mobilising funds to fulfill the illegal mission.

However, Mutuku dismissed the argument.

The investigations were complex and went beyond the country.

Security agencies in Kenya sought the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to unravel how Abdi was communicating and viciously seeking to recruit persons to join the terror groups.

After exploiting his mobile phone and Toshiba laptop, security agencies found that he had terrorism materials and connected him to persons who he was seeking to recruit. Abdi was arrested on August 30, 2016.

Security agencies believed that Abdi was the mastermind a network to radicalise Kenyan youths and recruit them into terror groups. It was alleged that there was a plot to create an ISIL branch here in Kenya.

While reacting to the judgment, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) said that it was a major victory against terrorism in the country.

Abdi faced eight charges. They included possession of articles connected with commission of a terrorist act, soliciting commission of a terrorist act, and recruitment of members of a terrorist group.