Moderate imam killed in gun attack

A moderate Muslim preacher Sheikh Mohammed Idriss was yesterday gunned down as he left his house to attend dawn prayers at Salihina Mosque in Likoni.

President Uhuru Kenyatta dispatched his Constitutional Adviser and former Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohamed and CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro to attend the burial of Idriss yesterday.

He described the deceased as a fighter against radical extremism.

“Sheikh Idris was at the forefront in the fight against the radicalisation of the youth and therefore his death is a big blow to the country’s efforts to stop religious extremism,” the President said in a statement.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga flew to Mombasa in the afternoon to attend the burial of Sheikh Idriss who died at Pandya Memorial Hospital after the shooting.

Leader’s tribute

Vicar General of Mombasa Catholic Archdiocese Father Wilbard Lagho described the deceased as “a true interpreter of the Koran who was committed to the fight against religious fundamentalism.”

Three private hospitals rejected Sheikh Idriss as he was bleeding and close to death, according to family members, who said he died on arrival at Pandya Memorial Hospital.

Idriss has been on the run for months, living in different houses in Likoni and on Mombasa Island for fear of Islamists, according to Sheikh Ali Mwinyi, the Imam of Salihina Mosque where the deceased was going to pray when gunmen pumped bullets into his chest, abdomen and legs.

The respected cleric who has died at 74 is survived by four widows and 28 children.

Idriss was an accomplished self-taught scholar in his own right, with radical credentials he displayed in his membership of the defunct Islamic Party of Kenya in the 1990s. Tutored by former Chief Kadhi Sheikh Abdulah Al Farsy, Sheikh Idriss was a moderate with a radical past.

Odinga described him as a leading crusader for rights and fighter for freedom with whom he remained in touch since the IPK days.

Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa announced that investigations had been launched into the killing.

“We have launched investigations and already an operation is under way to ascertain who the killers might be,” the county commissioner said.

Human rights group, Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri), in a statement by Executive Director Mwambi Mwasaru, denounced the killing, describing it as falling into “a clear pattern of assassinations that the Government does not bother to investigate.”

Civil society group, Haki Africa, through its Executive Director Hussein Khalid,  appealed to the Government to provide security for all religious leaders whose lives are at risk.

Although no organisation has claimed responsibility for the murder, his supporters suspect those responsible are Islamists he opposed over recruitment of youths to Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

According to Sheikh Mwinyi Ali, Sheikh Idriss moved to Likoni two weeks ago from Mbuta village in Dongo Kundu in Mombasa to hide, fearing for his life.

“We advised him to move to Likoni after he raised fears over his life. He complained that the radical youths he had differed with at Sakina Mosque were trailing him,” said Sheikh Mwinyi, referring to Sheikh Idriss altercation with radicals under Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi who was killed on April 1.

Meanwhile, postings on the internet by radical supporters of Makaburi and the late Sheikh Aboud Rogo celebrated the killing, describing Sheikh Idriss as “the so called Imam,” and a “friend of the kuffar” to underline the gravity of the conspiracy theory that the deceased was assassinated by Muslim extremists over his opposition to Al-Shabaab and recruitment of youths to the terror group.

In one of his last address to journalists on May 16, Sheikh Idriss suggested that he and other priests allied to the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK), were opposed to Al Shabaab and violent Jihad.

Sheikh Idriss told The Voice of America that he suspects that he and other preachers became targets for assassination when they convened a meeting that came up with a fatwa or edict declaring there is no holy war in Somalia, contrary to Makaburi’s and Rogo’s declarations.

And following his ouster from Sakina Mosque on November 29, last year, where he was Imam for close to three decades, Sheikh Idriss and other CIPK leaders – Sheikh Mohamed Dor (Secretary General) and Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa (organising secretary) – went into hiding and declined suggestions to confront extremist preaching at the Majengo-based Musa Mosque saying “why should we go to people who want to kill us.”

The family of the deceased, through his younger brother Hassan Mohamed Idriss, urged for calm and appealed to the Government to ensure thorough investigations into the killing.

One of the deceased’s sons, Mr Idriss Hassan, a teacher at the Al Farsy Girls Secondary School, described their father as a moderate and peace loving man.