Nairobi mall attack defendants Kenyan, not Somali citizens say families

NAIROBI, Kenya

By James Shimanyula

The four defendants being tried for allegedly supporting the Al-Shabaab militants who attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in September are not guilty and should be tried as Kenyan, not Somali, citizens according to their families.

With the trial in its second week Sheikh Mohammed Hassan, father of defendent Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, emphasized that his son is a Kenyan citizen.  

"He has never seen Somalia. The young man is a Kenyan, Even his grandfather is a Kenyan. The feeling I have is that they [Kenyan authorities] have lied against our son. This is the position. Never has he been to another place. He absolutely did nothing wrong.”

Asha Mohammed Hassan, Abdi's mother, said her son had no connection to Al-Shabaab. "How come that they [the defendants] are being tied to Al Shabab. Pure lies. This child teaches children Quran.They are pursuing Al Shabab. We are not Al Shabab. Not at all." 

The mother of another defendant, Adan Mohammed Dheq Ibrahim, also insisted that the four suspects are Kenyans and that they were innocent. “Our people have been held without committing any offence. All citizens of Kenya are seeing. We are Kenyans. These [accused] are not Somalis. They have Kenyan Identity Cards,” she said in Kiswahili. 

The issue of identity cards is expected to be raised by the State Prosecutor James Mungai Warui, who claims he has witnesses who can prove the identity cards were illegally obtained.

Nurta Abdi, the mother of defendant Liban Abdullah Omar added that her son does not have Kenyan citizenship and had never been to Nairobi before. “My son is a refugee from Kakuma refugee camp. He doesn’t even know Nairobi. He came to see me here in Nairobi. He has been accused wrongly.”

Kakuma refugee camp, located in the arid and dusty north-western region of Kenya, is home to more than two hundred thousand refugees who fled wars in neighbouring countries, including Somalia. The refugees are strictly prohibited from leaving the camp unless valid permits allow them to do so.

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