A high court in Rwanda sentenced 13 terror suspects to 5 years in prison and another two to ten years in prison for belonging and or facilitating terror organization including al Shabaab in Somalia and ISIS. The 15 were also charged with providing the mention groups with support.
Among those convicted included three women, two of them arrested at the airport in Kigali while en route to Syria and another convicted of helping them with $1,000 for flight tickets.
One of those convicted, Salim Fundi, was an elemental recruiter for the al-Qaida affiliated al Shabaab and evidence presented in court revealed that he participated in coordinating people in Rwanda who wanted to join a terrorist group in Somalia.
Police in the African country arrested the 40 in January 2016, less than a week after they killed Muhammad Mugemangango, a preacher accused of encouraging youths to join extremist groups. Security personnel also seized jihadist materials such as books, CDs and social network messages.
Despite Rwanda having a Muslim Minority of about 2.5 percent of the population the slain cleric Mugemangango had stirred a radical wave that yielded extremist elements especially allied to Somalia-based al Shabaab. Like all countries in the larger East African region extremisms has been posing a threat and as such prompting the countries to adopt counterterrorism measures both individually and as a bloc.
