Makueni-Based Doctor Jailed for 12 Years for Plotting Terror Attack
A doctor from Kenya has received a 12-year prison sentence for involvement in a terrorist organization.
On Monday, Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku sentenced Mohamed Abdu Ali, who worked at Makueni Level 4 Hospital, to jail. The sentence will begin from the day of his arrest on April 29, 2016.
He was found guilty of leading the terrorist group ISIS and planning a terrorist attack in Kenya involving anthrax bacteria produced biologically.
The biological attack devised by Dr. Ali and his collaborators targets human cells and can lead to immediate death.
On Monday, Ms. Mutuku’s judgment found Ali guilty of several offenses, including being part of a terrorist organization, arranging a meeting to support its activities, recruiting its members, gathering information to carry out a terrorist act, and possessing items related to the execution of a terrorist act.
“I find that the prosecution has proved its case against Ali in respect to counts 1,2,4,7 and 8 and l convict him for these counts under section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). I grant him the benefit of the doubt in counts 3,5 and 6 and acquit him under 215 of the CPC,” ruled the magistrate.
The court cleared Ali’s wife, Nuseiba Mohammed Haji Osman, also known as Umm Fidda, of all charges she faced alongside her husband for planning a terrorist act and participating in a terrorist group, citing insufficient evidence.
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While sentencing Ali, who worked as a medical doctor in Wote before being apprehended on April 29, 2016, Ms. Mutuku stated that there was substantial evidence showing his regular contact with other terrorists abroad using various social media platforms such as Twitter, Gmail, WhatsApp, KIK, Threema, and Telegram, among others.
“From the evidence of the 26 witnesses, the court concludes that the first accused person was linked to al-Shabaab as he would disseminate the information on his various social media platforms by offering logistical assistance to ISIS, a known terrorist group. On his Twitter (now X) account, even when the accounts were closed, he would open other accounts and share al-Shabaab material with his followers,” the magistrate ruled.
The magistrate also concluded that Ali, as a member of the ISIS terrorist group, coordinated gatherings to support terrorism. At one point, he instructed Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, also known as Miski, a notorious terrorist, and other unnamed individuals to work on setting up an ISIS cell in Kenya with the assistance of ISIS members returning from Libya.
Ali was also found guilty of having videos and images on his three mobile phones and laptops, intended for provoking terrorist activities.
During the hearing, State Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu informed the court that the terrorist group associated with Ali was engaged in radicalizing and recruiting university students and other young Kenyans into terrorist networks.
Join terrorist groups
The prosecution stated that Ali’s network was assisting young Kenyans in covertly departing from Kenya to join extremist organizations in Libya and Syria.
Ali’s terror network in Kenya spans the Coast, North Rift, and Western regions, and also reaches beyond the country’s borders to Somalia, Libya, and Syria.
There are claims that ISIS recruiters focus on recruiting medical students globally.
The prosecution stated that the network involved medical professionals who intended to conduct a biological attack in Kenya in 2016 using anthrax.
Two other ISIS terror suspects, Kiguzo Mwangolo Mgutu and Abubakar Jillo Mohammed, who were associated with plans to execute revenge attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa, vanished after the arrest of Ali and his wife.
After Ali was convicted, the prosecutor requested the court to apply the harshest penalties allowed by law for the five charges he was found guilty of.
Makueni-Based Doctor Jailed for 12 Years for Plotting Terror Attack
