This archive report was first published on 16 August 2019.
On August 16, 2019, a US judge handed down a 25-year prison sentence to confessed international drug trafficker Baktash Akasha.
The sentence was delivered by Presiding Judge Victor Marrero, who took into account mitigating factors presented by Baktash's defence attorney, George Goltzer.
According to Mr Goltzer, Baktash, a 42-year-old Kenyan, will likely spend less than 20 years in a federal medium-security prison due to good behavior and time already served.
Under US criminal justice standards, prisoners receive 54 days' reduction for each of the years to which they have been sentenced.
Baktash will also be credited with the roughly two-and-a-half years he has been held in a detention centre in New York since being transported to the US.
After completing his sentence, Baktash will be deported to Kenya.
As part of the sentencing, Judge Marrero also ordered Baktash to pay a $100,000 (Sh10 million) fine to the US.
"The judge gave very thoughtful regard to a difficult set of circumstances," Mr Goltzer said following the sentencing.
Baktash had asked Judge Marrero for "mercy" in a five-minute statement, apologizing for his actions and acknowledging that he had harmed his family as well as himself.
