NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 25 – A Kenyan court on Thursday fined a Somali man suspected of terrorism links to pay Sh50,000 or face six months in jail for being in Kenya illegally.
Abdul Fatah Abubakar Abdi, a Somali national holding a Kenyan Identity Card would also be deported back to Somalia after complying with the court order.
Mr Abdi was found guilty by Nairobi Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei for obtaining registration by false pretence, being unlawfully present in the country and failing to register as an alien.
Mr Abdi was first deported out of the country on February 19 last year as he was believed to be a threat to national security.
According to an affidavit filed in court by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, Mr Abdi had accommodated top terror suspect Swaleh Nabhan alias Hashim.
However after his deportation the man returned to Kenya illegally and was arrested on July 15, 2008 in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate.
The investigating officer in the case Newton Mwiti told the court that Mr Abdi was involved in preparations to commit felony namely killing and maiming indiscriminately by use of violent means.
This, the officer said, is evidenced by his association with Mr Nabhan who is alleged to be one of those who carried out the bombings at Paradise Hotel in Kikambala which killed 15 people in 2002. The court was told that it is because of his associations with terror suspects that necessitated the government to preserve national security by taking an executive action to eject him from the country.
Mr Abdi was born in Kismaiyo in Somali but brought into the country at the age of eight by his mother Khadija Bakari. He grew up in Kisauni, Mombasa.
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