Somalia court issues life sentences in Daallo blast

MOGADISHU, Somalia-A military court in Mogadishu has issued life sentences for two defendants convicted in the case of Daallo Airlines blast on Monday, Garowe Online reports. 

On February 2, bomber with links to Al Shabaab militants punched a hole in Daallo plane in a botched airborne operation.  

The Chairman of Somalia’s military court Hassan Ali Shute has announced the verdicts issued in the case, saying Abdiweli Mohamud Maow and Arays Hashi Abdi were given life in jail in absentia. 

Arays is accused of membership to Al Shabaab terror group and his role in the facilitation of the laptop blast. 

Moreover, Somali military court sentenced—Abshir Mohamed Moallim, and Safiyo AbdullahiHassan—to four years in military prison while defendants Liban Mohamed Yalahow, Omar Muhiyadin Hussein, and Mohamed Abdi Elmi were handed down a year each.  

Bashir Abdullahi Afrah, Ali Nur Salad, and Adan Dahir Diriye were least punished with a six-month jail term.  

The military course has also acquitted five of thirteen people in the terrorism charges.  

UN-backed central government was at the time alarmed by the incident, prompting for security agencies to adopt further security measures. Somali government forces aided by African Union peacekeepers are battling Al Shabaabmilitants in central and southern Somalia.

GAROWEONLINE