A Kenyan judge has sentenced two men to 18 and 33 years in jail after they were convicted of helping Islamist militants attack a shopping mall in 2013.
Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, who received the 33-year prison sentence, and Hussein Hassan Mustafa, who was jailed for 18 years, were charged with planning and committing acts of terror, as well as supporting and helping a terrorist group.
At least 67 people, including renowned Ghanaian poet Professor Kofi Awoonor died in the assault by al-Shabab on the Westgate shopping complex in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
The state said the four militants who carried out the attack were found dead in the shopping centre’s rubble.
The militants occupied the mall for four days, in one of the deadliest jihadi attacks in Kenya.
These are the only convictions relating to the Westgate attack.
A third man who was found not guilty on all counts of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act has been missing since the day after the verdict was announced three weeks ago.
Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, is based in neighbouring Somalia, and has carried out a series of attacks in Kenya.
Kenya has troops in Somalia to help fight the militants.
What were the jailed men convicted of?
Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, who received the 33-year prison sentence, and Hussein Hassan Mustafa, who was jailed for 18 years, were charged with planning and committing acts of terror, as well as supporting and helping a terrorist group.
The third suspect, Liban Abdullahi, was found not guilty. The Somali refugee was also acquitted of the charge of being in Kenya illegally and possessing identification documents by false presences.
Witnesses said that the day after he was found not guilty, gunmen stopped his taxi and abducted him. He has not been seen since.
Source: BBC||Kuulpeeps.com
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