This archive report was first published on 19 August 2019.
On August 16, 2019, US Judge Victor Marrero handed down a 25-year prison sentence to Baktash Akasha, a 42-year-old Kenyan international drug trafficker.
The sentence was less than the maximum term of life imprisonment sought by prosecutors, who cited mitigating factors presented by Baktash's defence attorney, George Goltzer.
According to US criminal justice standards, prisoners who exhibit good behaviour 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 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, apologising for his actions and the harm they had caused to his family and himself.
