Kenyan court sentences two men to 30 years in prison for aiding 2019 hotel attack
Mohamed Abdi Ali attends a court session where he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of aiding a 2019 attack by al Qaeda-linked militants at Dusit hotel that killed 21 people in 2019, at the Kahawa Law Courts, Nairobi, Kenya June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
NAIROBI (Reuters) -A Kenyan court on Thursday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for aiding a 2019 attack by militant members of the al Shabaab group on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi that killed 21 people.
Hussein Mohammed Abdile and Mohamed Abdi Ali were convicted in May on charges of facilitation and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism for helping the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group.
They had pleaded not guilty.
Al Shabaab regularly carries out attacks in Kenya to try to pressure the government to withdraw peacekeeping troops from Somalia, where al Shabaab is waging an insurgency to try to seize power.
Prosecutors said Abdile and Ali helped two of the attackers obtain forged identity cards that allowed them to escape from a refugee camp and provided financial support.
Abdile and Ali have 14 days to appeal their sentences.
Delivering her ruling on Thursday, Judge Diana Mochache said that without their involvement, the attack may not have happened.
"Without financiers, facilitators and sympathisers, terrorists cannot actualise their activities," Mochache said.
In the January 2019 attack, several gunmen stormed the Dusit complex in Nairobi, triggering an assault and siege that lasted more than 12 hours.
The Kenyan government said at the time that it had killed all the attackers.
(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Vincent Mumo; Writing by Elias Biryabarema and George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexander Winning and Ed Osmond)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
8 hours ago
- The Star
Kenyan court sentences two men to 30 years in prison for aiding 2019 hotel attack
Mohamed Abdi Ali attends a court session where he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of aiding a 2019 attack by al Qaeda-linked militants at Dusit hotel that killed 21 people in 2019, at the Kahawa Law Courts, Nairobi, Kenya June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi NAIROBI (Reuters) -A Kenyan court on Thursday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for aiding a 2019 attack by militant members of the al Shabaab group on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi that killed 21 people. Hussein Mohammed Abdile and Mohamed Abdi Ali were convicted in May on charges of facilitation and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism for helping the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group. They had pleaded not guilty. Al Shabaab regularly carries out attacks in Kenya to try to pressure the government to withdraw peacekeeping troops from Somalia, where al Shabaab is waging an insurgency to try to seize power. Prosecutors said Abdile and Ali helped two of the attackers obtain forged identity cards that allowed them to escape from a refugee camp and provided financial support. Abdile and Ali have 14 days to appeal their sentences. Delivering her ruling on Thursday, Judge Diana Mochache said that without their involvement, the attack may not have happened. "Without financiers, facilitators and sympathisers, terrorists cannot actualise their activities," Mochache said. In the January 2019 attack, several gunmen stormed the Dusit complex in Nairobi, triggering an assault and siege that lasted more than 12 hours. The Kenyan government said at the time that it had killed all the attackers. (Reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Vincent Mumo; Writing by Elias Biryabarema and George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexander Winning and Ed Osmond)
The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Russian court sentences actor to 17 years in prison for railway sabotage
(Reuters) -A military court in Moscow sentenced a Russian man to 17 years in prison after finding him guilty of attempting to blow up a railway on behalf of a pro-Ukraine Russian paramilitary group, the TASS state news agency reported on Thursday. The defendant, Viktor Mosienko, who is a film and theatre actor, admitted guilt and repented in court, according to TASS. Russian news outlet reported that Mosienko had cited a desire to help Ukrainian children as a motive. Russian officials have linked pro-Ukraine sabotage groups with numerous attacks on aircraft and railways aimed at disrupting Moscow's war effort since the full-scale conflict began over three years ago. Prosecutions of those suspected of terrorism and sabotage in Russia have jumped, with 40% more terrorism cases sent to court in 2024 than the year before, or 429 in total, according to an Investigative Committee official cited by TASS. Investigators found that Mosienko, who is 63, had early in 2024 fallen in with the Freedom for Russia Legion, a group of Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin who are fighting for Ukraine. Reuters was not able to contact the group, which Russia considers a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors said Mosienko had travelled from his home in southern Russia to the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, where authorities arrested him as he attempted to lay an improvised explosive device (IED) under a railway bridge. TASS reported, citing the indictment, that Mosienko had arrived to the site by taxi, dressed in a railway worker's vest and carrying a bunch of red balloons and a box of sweets, inside of which were six kilograms of explosives and a detonator. Reuters was not able to contact a lawyer for Mosienko. (Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
The Star
14 hours ago
- The Star
Mushroom murder suspect fell sick from same meal: Defence
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms. - Reuters SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of killing three lunch guests with toxic mushrooms fell sick from the same meal, her defence said Thursday (June 19), rejecting claims she faked her symptoms. Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms. She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest -- her husband's uncle -- who survived the lunch after a long stay in hospital. Patterson has steadfastly maintained her innocence during a seven-week-long trial that has made headlines from New York to New Delhi. As the trial came to its closing stages, defence lawyer Colin Mandy poked holes in the prosecutor's case, saying his client, too, fell ill after consuming the beef-and-pastry dish. Patterson's medical tests at the hospital revealed symptoms "that can't be faked", including low potassium and elevated haemoglobin, he said. "She was not as sick as the other lunch guests, nor did she represent she was," Mandy said. The prosecution maintains Patterson did not consume the fatal fungi and faked her symptoms. Mandy said his client lied in panic in the days after the lunch, trying to "conceal the fact that foraged mushrooms went into the meal". "If that was found out, she feared she would be held responsible," her defence said. "She panicked when confronted with the terrible possibility, the terrible realisation, that her actions had caused the illness of people she liked." Mandy said he was not "making an excuse" for Patterson's behaviour after the lunch, but that it did not mean she meant to harm or kill her guests. Patterson originally invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family lunch at her secluded home in the farming village of Leongatha in Victoria state. But he turned down the invitation on the eve of the meal, saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard earlier. The pair were long estranged but still legally married. Simon Patterson's parents Don and Gail, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, attended the lunch. All three were dead within days. Heather Wilkinson's husband Ian fell gravely ill but eventually recovered. The trial in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne, is in its final stages. - AFP
