This archive report was first published on 2 October 2019.
On October 2, 2019, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti made a ruling that allowed police to hold a terror suspect for seven days.
The suspect, Fawaz Ahmed Hamdun, is accused of recruiting youth to Al-Shabaab and was detained at Port Police Station.
Police had sought to detain the suspect for 20 days, but the court ruled that the State has resources to analyze data from mobile phones recovered from the suspect in less than the requested time.
Prosecutor Eric Masila argued that the right to liberty is not absolute and that the investigations being carried out are critical and allowed under the Constitution.
However, the suspect's lawyer, Yusuf Aboubakar, argued that his client is entitled to bail in accordance with Article 49 of the Constitution and that there must be compelling reasons to warrant the denial of bail.
Aboubakar further stated that there is no evidence by the prosecution that the suspect is a flight risk.
“The prosecution wants sympathy and assistance, it wants to put you (court) in a position to violate the law in the name of assisting a police force that does not follow the law in their investigations,” Aboubakar argued.
The case will be mentioned on October 8, 2019.
