By Robert Hummy
Thursday, February 15, 2007
NAIROBI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Kenyan prosecutors dropped an illegal immigration case on Thursday against a Somali businessman who was a major financial backer of the now-ousted Somali Islamists, but did not give a reason why.
Abukar Omar Adan, 72, surrendered to Kenyan authorities at the border with Somalia, after government troops backed by Ethiopian armour and air power routed the Islamists from their strongholds in a two-week war in December and early January.
Adan had pleaded guilty to charges of being in Kenya illegally, while his son Omar Abukar Omar had pleaded not guilty, saying he had a visa for the east African country.
"I have been instructed by the office of the attorney general to terminate the case against the accused persons," prosecutor Vincent Wohoro told a Nairobi court.
He did not give any reason why the attorney general had decided to terminate the case.
Human rights groups and Muslim leaders have criticised Kenyan authorities for mistreating Somalis they suspect are fighters or allies of the former Somalia Islamic Courts Council which ruled the capital Mogadishu and large parts of Somalia for six months.
The government's Kenya National Human Rights Commission said they have a list of up to 76 men, women and children in jails around the country on suspicion of aiding the Islamists. Rights groups say many of them have denied access to medicine and lawyers.
The government has deported about 40 suspects to Somalia, prosecutor Jacinta Nyamosi told the court.
Source: Reuters, Feb 15, 2007