Two convicted of aiding Al-Shabaab raid at Westgate mall in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya - Two men were on Wednesday found guilty of aiding Al-Shabaab attackers during the 2013 Westgate mall siege, seven years after undergoing hectic trial, which becomes one of the first terror-related conviction in Kenya, which has often been targeted by the Somalia-based militants.

The 2013 attack was the first large scale raid on Kenyan soil since 1998 when the US embassy in Nairobi was bombed by Al-Qaida, leaving over 200 people dead. It was also the first major attack by Al-Shabaab militants, who had sworn allegiance to Al-Qaida, on the Kenyan territory.

At least 67 people were pronounced dead in the four-day siege at Kenya's capital Nairobi before authorities pronounced the militants dead. Kenya used Kenya Defense Forces [KDF] and the elite Recce Squad to eliminate the militants, who caught the country's top security organs unaware.

Mohamed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafah were found guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit terrorism and aiding the Qaeda-linked Shabab terrorist group. A third man, Liban Abdullah Omar, was acquitted of all charges. A fourth, Adan Dheq, was released last year because of a lack of evidence.

The attack also leftover 175 people critically injured and would later be proceeded by a series of attacks within Kenya by Al-Shabaab especially in Mandera where quarry workers and teachers were butchered, not forgetting the infamous Garissa University raid.

Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi of the Milimani law courts in Nairobi delivered the judgment, which had been delayed multiple times. A court translator gave the verdict, which took four hours to read, in Somali to the accused, who are all ethnic Somalis.

“Their defenses and denials that they had any links that were associated with the act that was committed by the attackers is without substance and I dismiss it,” the chief magistrate said. “They were acting in concert with the attackers.”

The Westgate Mall was a symbol of Kenya’s growing middle class, a place where affluent couples and families shopped, dined, and caught the latest Hollywood and Bollywood movies.

But it became a scene of terror on a Saturday afternoon in 2013 when it was stormed by militants who fired indiscriminately at the crowds inside and detonated grenades, sending terrified people fleeing for the exits. The mall’s shiny floors were smeared with blood and scattered with lifeless bodies. Witnesses later said that the assailants had picked out non-Muslims for killing.

During a four-day siege to clear out the militants, the Kenyan authorities were criticized for an inefficient and disjointed response, with the police and military forces deployed in the mall even firing at each other. Soldiers were caught on camera stealing goods from shops in the ruined mall. Security officers also fired a rocket, leading to the collapse of entire floors in the five-story building, including the rooftop parking lot.

The conviction comes at the time Kenya is still dealing with terrorism, with Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, and Lamu being the worst affected. Recently, President Uhuru Kenyatta denied knowledge of the US Africa Command planning to conduct airstrikes in the region, after a report which was published by the New York Times.

Instead, Uhuru said the country has made significant progress in the fight against terrorism. The KDF team has been camping in Somalia since 2011 and has liberated many strategic towns including the seaport city of Kismayo, which was once Al-Shabaab's headquarters.

GAROWE ONLINE