Security expert abducted from city streets freed

Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad. [Courtesy]

An expert on the affairs of the Horn of Africa region, who went missing after unidentified men abducted him on September 8, returned to his home on Sunday night, his brother said.

Dr Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad, director of the Horn of Africa Center for Security Studies, is “in good shape and with his family,” his younger brother Abdiaziz Sheik Abdisamad told The Standard on Monday.

Abdisamad’s abduction was a part of a wave of recent abductions in the country that alarmed Muslims and the wider public.

Witnesses say Abdiwahab Abdusamad was accosted by unknown people while walking in the CBD. [Courtesy]

Relatives of the victims have mainly fingered the country’s security agencies that remained tight-lipped even after evidence of their culpability was abundant.

The family of Abdisamad declined to divulge more details on how he was released, or who actually abducted him.

“We’re happy he’s back. And that is the most important thing at this moment,” said Abdiaziz.

On September 8, unidentified men pounced on Abdisamad as he walked on Tubman Road in Nairobi and forced him into a waiting pick-up truck.