Father and Son Linked to 1998 Nairobi US Embassy Bombing Released After 13 Years in Jail

Two Kenyans who have been in jail for the past 13 years over the 1998 Nairobi US Embassy bombing have been released.

Mahfudh Ashur Hemed and his son Ibrahim Mahfudh Ashur left Shimo La Tewa Maximum Prison in Mombasa on Tuesday after the court dismissed the prosecution’s bid to have them remain behind bars.

The two were arrested in 2008 in Malindi over accusations of harboring and aiding Fazul Abdullah, the suspect behind the 1998 US embassy bombing, to escape.

In 2019, Hemed and Ibrahim were found guilty of being accessories to the murder of 219 people in the attack on the embassy. They filed an appeal leading to their acquittal.

The Director of Public Prosecutions filed an appeal against the acquittal of the two and wanted them to remain in prison pending the determination of the appeal.

While acquitting Hemed and his son, Justice Adwera Ong’injo noted that the DNA evidence used to convict the two was insufficient.

She further questioned how detectives managed to collect DNA swabs from Fazul’s wife, son, and daughter to match that found in his shaver at the house of Hemed and Ibrahim. The two had been convicted by then Chief Magistrate Maxwell Gicheru.

“Claims that Fazul was in the house of the appellants by virtue of the alleged DNA test in the absence of him (Fazul) having been found falls short of the threshold of beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, the guilt or otherwise of the said Fazul Abdulla is immaterial,” ruled Justice Ong’injo.

Fazul escaped the police dragnet in 2007 and was later killed in a shootout at a roadblock in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2011, according to reports by the US government. Fazul was also linked to the 2002 bombing of Paradise Hotel in Kikambala where 15 people died.