Four women now face 20 terrorism charges

The Government has slapped 20 new terrorism charges on four Muslim women with alleged ties to Al-Shabaab. One suspect has been linked to two controversial mosques in Mombasa.

Maryam Said Aboud, Khadija Abdulkadir Abubakar from Malindi and Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdalla from Tanzania were arrested on March 27 last year in El-Wak, Mandera County, according to police.

It is believed the suspects were trying to cross the border into Somalia to join Al-Shabaab. The fourth suspect, Halima Adan Ali was nabbed in Machakos on April 3 2015, while, allegedly, travelling to Mombasa.

Yesterday, the State linked Khadija who was studying Pharmacy at Mount Kenya University in Thika until her arrest, to Musa and Sakina mosques in Mombasa’s Majengo slums.

The State claims Khadija engaged in preparation for a meeting at Musa on February 2 2014 and Sakina on November 9 and “the agenda of the meeting was to be in furtherance of the activities of a terrorist group...,” in the new charge.

State prosecutors say in the new charge that the woman disseminated information of the two alleged meetings.

The new charges, according to the State stem from electronic data police gathered from the suspects’ cellphones and laptops.

The charges were presented before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti. Ogoti said he will not allow any further delay of the case once it commences hearing after the defence said prosecution has been producing piecemeal evidence in court.

State prosecutor Ngina Mbua said reports from the Anti-Terror Unit had established that each of the four girls had links in Somalia and intended to produce the Forensic Expert and the Investigating Officer as the last witness in the case that has dragged for a year.

Ngina said the new development was the final document they were presenting to the courts before the commencement of pre-trials.

However defence lawyer Richard Chacha said police did not seek court's order to infringe on the privacy of the accused phones to extract the information they used to produce a report that led to their charges.

“We oppose the production of the report against Ali as it violates the right of the accused privacy because there was no court order to infringe on her privacy,” said Chacha.

The women have been in custody at Shanzu Maximum Prison since despite court orders freeing them on bond. A defence petition for contempt of court for failure free them is pending.

They were originally charged with two terrorism crimes that soon increased to eight and have now been amended to create 20 separate charges. The case will proceed with hearing of the forensic report expert and Investigation Officer on July 5 and 6.