Briton survived 'jihadist' razor-blade attack in Somalia prison appears in court

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A British citizen has been arraigned in a court in Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Wednesday, July 31 over an alleged security breach at Airport earlier this year, Garowe Online reports.

The Briton, Anthony Thomas Cox, 48, was arrested at Mogadishu airport on January 19 as he was boarding an Ethiopian airlines flight to Addis Abada when police found tear gas canisters in his baggage at the security check.

Cox, who had been working for a private foreign security company based in the capital, is facing charges of endangering the ‘public safety’ by failing to reveal possession of explosive materials during his stay.

Days after his arrest, Cox survived an attempt on his life after suspected ISIS inmates held in Mogadishu Central Prison tried to cut his throat with razor blades, but were foiled when the guards had intervened.

Luckily, Cox had suffered a minor cut to his neck during the attack.

After the incident unfolded, British Embassy officials in Mogadishu and staff from the US security company, Bancroft, which employs Cox, had visited the prison.

It is unclear when he will stand trial again and colleagues in the security sector in Mogadishu have previously expressed alarm that he is being held in the city's central prison alongside “terrorists”.

Mogadishu Central Prison lies in a heavily fortified zone of the Somali capital, where most inmates held are convicted Al-Shabab and ISIL-linked extremists as well as other hardened criminals.

GAROWE ONLINE