Belgian terrorists at Shimo la Tewa probed

Three Belgian jihadists serving two-year jail terms at Shimo La Tewa Maximum prison are being investigated afresh by their country for crimes they allegedly committed in Somalia.

The three are among 19 terror suspects held at the Maximum Security prison where a jailbreak was thwarted on March 19 this year. Among the foreign terror suspects is Briton Jermaine Grant who prison authorities claim was the main organiser of the unrest.

Two months ago, two Belgians jailed at Block F of the prison were extradited to Belgium to answer terrorism charges following an international arrest warrant by Interpol last year.

Three judges and a prosecutor from Belgium arrived in Mombasa last week and headed to Shimo La Tewa Maximum prison where the inmates are serving their terms.

The investigators who have interrogated the suspects several times cannot be named for security reasons.
Sources at the prison confided in The Standard that the judges had come to establish if the inmates who were jailed in Malindi in November last year, were among the foreign fighters who fought along with the Al Shabaab before they were arrested by Kenya Defence Forces.

The arrival of the Belgian judicial officers  comes in the wake of another case in which a human rights activist has gone to a UK court challenging the conviction of Ali Babito Kololo for the killing of British tourist David Tibutt before hijacking his wife Judith Tebutt in September 2011.

Sources at the prison told The Standard that the Belgian judges were given permission by the prison authorities to interview the inmates.

Two of the Belgians have been identified as Ali Omar and Ali Mohamed while the third suspect is unidentified.

The inmates were jailed by a Malindi court after they admitted to being in Kenya illegally and being members of the Al Shabaab, a banned group in Kenya.

The inmates, the police investigators said, told them they were escorted to the border of Somali and Kenya by Al Shabaab fighters so that they can find their way back to Belgium.

During interrogation, the three foreigners admitted having left behind several foreigners in Somalia to fight the jihadist war.
In November last year, two other Belgians were arrested in Lamu and sentenced to two years in jail for being in the country illegally.

The suspects have since been deported back to their country following the order of the court.