More than five years after a deadly terrorist siege shocked Kenya’s capital, justice has been partially delivered. A Kenyan court on Thursday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for aiding the 2019 al-Shabab attack on Nairobi’s upscale DusitD2 hotel and office complex, which claimed the lives of 21 people.
The convicted men, Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali, were found guilty of financing the attackers and providing them with forged identity documents to support their infiltration efforts. Both are Kenyan nationals.
The attack, which happened in broad daylight, was later claimed by the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida. It was one of the group’s most brazen strikes in Kenya since the 2013 Westgate Mall attack that claimed 67 lives, and the 2015 Garissa University massacre, where 147 students were killed.
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Al-Shabab has repeatedly targeted Kenya in retaliation for the country’s military intervention in Somalia that began in 2011. Despite pressure from international and regional forces, the group continues to carry out attacks in both countries.
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In issuing the sentence, Judge Diana Kavedza, according to an AP report, highlighted the broader significance of the case for victims and the nation alike.
She described it as “one of the most comprehensive counterterrorism investigations in Kenya’s history,” adding that “law enforcement agencies pursued not only the attackers’ immediate associates but also financiers, facilitators and logistical coordinators who enabled the attack.”
Kavedza further stressed the symbolic weight of the ruling: “The judgment spoke for the survivors who deserve closure.”
The assault on the DusitD2 complex in January 2019 drew international condemnation. Among the dead were foreign nationals, including citizens of the United States and the United Kingdom.
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Kenyan authorities have vowed to continue their pursuit of justice in terrorism-related cases, especially those tied to al-Shabab’s cross-border operations.
