By Willis Oketch
A Mombasa court has released terror suspect Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi on a bond of Sh1 million and a surety of a similar amount.
Shariff is accused of inciting the violence that rocked Mombasa town and its environs last month following the killing of radical preacher Sheikh Aboud Rogo.
He was arrested a week after Sheikh Rogo’s death after prosecutors secured an arrest warrant.
State prosecutors accused him of calling for the murder of policemen and Muslim leaders close to the Government in a speech after Rogo’s killing. Shariff and Rogo were placed on US sanctions list for alleged support of the Al Shabaab terrorist group.
On Monday, Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Elias Micheka ordered Shariff’s release after rejecting an application by the prosecution who wanted the accused remanded in police custody.
“The prosecution has failed to disclose any compelling reasons to have the accused denied bail,” said the magistrate.
