Reprieve for suspected Garissa University attackers as court acquits them of being Al-Shabaab

The convicted men will be sentenced next month [Baz Ratner/Reuters]

NAIROBI, Kenya - A court sitting in Nairobi has acquitted two suspected attackers of Garissa University of being members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, consequently, reducing their sentences in what many analysts have termed as a betrayal in the fight against terrorism in the Horn of Africa nation.

High Court Justice Cecilia Githua has acquitted Hassan Edin Hassan and Mohamed Abdi Abikar of the crime of being members of the al-Shabab militant group, but she upheld the convictions of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. The action lowers their prison sentences from 41 years to 25-and-a-half years.

Richard Tuya, a security analyst based in Nairobi, terms the decision a "blow in the fight against Al-Shabaab". Kenya has embarked on a serious mission in the fight against the militants to an extent of even deploying more troops to the Horn of Africa nation.

“The ruling is making terrorism in this country an attractive business because terrorists are rational thinkers who do a cost-benefit analysis of their actions, but now, if the punishment is less than the cost, then it’s an advantage to them,” he said.

Four years ago, a magistrate court had sentenced the duo to 25 years over conspiracy to commit and commit a crime against terrorism act and additional 15 years for being members of a designated group of Al-Shabaab. It is the second crime that had conviction dropped thus the reprieve by High Court.

The judge said prosecutors did not table concrete evidence linking the militants to Al-Shabaab, a group that is predominant in Somalia and with some presence in northeastern Kenya, especially in Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera counties.

Tuya says the ruling disregards the families of the 148 victims, however, who were killed in the 2015 attacks at Garissa University, the Voice of America reports.

“To me, I feel like it is a mockery, but now you can’t blame the courts because also the court relies on evidence that has been brought before it,” he said. On their other crime, the judge upheld a lower court ruling based on circumstantial evidence produced in court, noting that they were aware of the attack.

The 2015 attack at an institution in Kenya remains the worst in history and left a gap that has never been cured. The militants stormed into the institution which has since been reopened, killing innocent students who were going about their studies.

GAROWE ONLINE