Al-Shabaab member jailed for 115 years over seven terrorism offences

A Kahawa Law Courts has sentenced an Al-Shabaab member to a combined 115 years in prison after finding him guilty of seven terrorism-related offences.

However, the sentences imposed on Ibrahim Hussein Hassan will run concurrently, meaning he will serve a 20-year jail term, the longest sentence handed down on a single count.

According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Principal Magistrate Gideon Kiage convicted Hassan after the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.

Hassan was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for being a member of the outlawed terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

The court also handed him 20 years' imprisonment on each of three counts of collecting information connected with the commission of a terrorist act, contrary to Section 29 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2012.

On a further three counts of possession of articles connected with the commission of a terrorist act, he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on each count.

The prosecution was led by Principal Prosecution Counsel Kennedy Amwayi and Principal Prosecution Counsel Harrison Kiarie, assisted by Prosecution Counsel Fatuma Ahmed. The State called 10 witnesses during the trial.

The conviction stems from Hassan's arrest on September 6, 2022, in Eastleigh Section III, Nairobi County, where investigators established that he was a member of Al-Shabaab, a terrorist organisation outlawed under Kenya Gazette Notice No. 2326 of April 7, 2015.

During the trial, the court heard that a forensic examination of a Samsung mobile phone recovered from Hassan uncovered three videos containing extremist propaganda linked to terrorism.

According to the court, the videos were capable of recruiting, training and radicalising young people into extremist activities.

In his judgment, Magistrate Kiage held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

In addition to the prison term, the court directed that Hassan undergo a deradicalisation programme while serving his sentence.