Highlight:
A Mandera court has ordered the release of eight of the 12 Islamic clerics arrested on October 4 on suspicion of radicalization and recruitment in the region for the Somali based terror group, the Al Shabaab.
Summary
The Kenya Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) argued that the release would allow for further investigations.
The eight including Mr Ahmed Noor Adan, Mr Abdi Mohamed Ahmed, Mr Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, Mr Osman Abdullahi Mude, Mr Yusuf Maalim Mohamed, Mr Adan Ibrahim Issack, Mr Abdi Mohamed Adan and Mr Abdiaziz Hassan Issack will be required to report to ATPU every two weeks until any other orders are issued by the court.
12 Islamic clerics were arrested on October 4th in Mandera County for purportedly radicalizing and recruiting youth in the county into al Shabaab by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.
The 12 were aligned in a Mandera court on October 7th where the ATPU sought to retain the suspects in police custody for an additional 14 days but the court ruled allowing 5 more days in police custody. The case will be mentioned on October 12th.
The suspects were arrested in a mosque in Hareri Lafey Sub-County, which has been ear-marked by the police as one of most notorious areas of Mandera County with al Shabaab activities among them the dreadful Mandera bus killings.
Kenya has strengthened its war against radicalization and recruitment into the Somali based terror group, the Al Shabaab after revelation that the activity is rampant in Mosques. Young intercepted recruits have earlier revealed how they were radicalized during their normal instructions into Islam.
