Kenya links ‘jihadi brides’ to Westgate, Garissa attacks

Suspected Al Shabaab brides (from left) Ummul Khayr, Sadir Abdalla, Maryam Aboud Said and Khadija Abdubakar Abdulkadir at the Mombasa Law Courts. [PHOTO: File]

The State now claims it has found new evidence linking four women facing terror charges in Mombasa to the Westgate Mall attack and massacre at Garissa University College.

Three women – Khadija Abdubakar Abdulkadir, Maryam Aboud Said of Malindi and Zanzibari medical student Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdalla – were arrested in El Wak by Kenya Defence Forces on March 27 as they were allegedly travelling to Somalia to join Al Shabaab, while Halima Adan Ali was arrested in April this year while travelling to Mombasa from Nairobi, according to police.

The new evidence is contained in a new affidavit sworn by a police investigator after analysis of cellphone data and a laptop recovered from one of the suspects.

"There are complex and highly technical investigations which are pending in the Westgate Mall terror attack and Garissa University attack, which the accused persons are linked to," says part of the affidavit sworn on November 16 and which also warns that the State might press new charges against the suspects.

A second affidavit claims the suspects were in telephone contact with a suspect identified as Fatma Said of Malindi who is still at large.

The affidavit claims that following analysis by the Cyber Crime Unit, detectives discovered the suspects had been communicating with people in Sri Lanka, Mombasa, Qatar, Turkey, Rwanda, United Kingdom, Canada and the United Arab Emirates through Skype, contacts that are still under probe.

One message extracted from the laptop suggests that the women were part of a global terror network spread across those countries.

The affidavit links the women to a Mr Shuaib Mbarak and attaches a message extracted from the laptop depicting one of the women describing herself as a "a little fish in a big pond full of much bigger sharks" which police allege "clearly indicates there is a live network of terrorism in all the countries mentioned above and in particular Mombasa who have links with the accused persons".

State Counsel Alexander Muteti said yesterday that the new revelations proved there are changed circumstances, which warrant cancellation of the bond the suspects were granted on October 22.

Mr Muteti yesterday told Justice Dora Chepkwony that the State was opposed to the release of the suspects on bond because they were a flight risk.

Police claimed early this year that three of the women were trying to sneak into Somalia to marry Islamic fighters when they were arrested in El Wak.

A fourth woman, accused of being the recruiter, was arrested in Machakos aboard a truck. Detectives alleged in April that the women were initially lured to join jihad and Al Shabaab through an Internet chat room.

Their trial has never kicked off as the suspects have battled for months to gain freedom on bond, which was granted by the High Court on October 23 but they have not been freed due to State objections.

Yesterday, defence lawyer Hamisi Mwazogo filed contempt proceedings against the commandant of Shimo La Tewa prison where they are being held.

But Muteti said the State had received new evidence it intends to use to overturn the bond. They three have denied that on March 27 in Mandera, they were found to be members of Al Shabaab.