We must defend our nation at all costs

Two Iranian men —Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi — were arrested in Kenya five years ago on suspicion that they were in the country to direct a major terrorism plot.

They were arraigned before Magistrate Kiarie Waweru Kiarie and subsequently sentenced to life in prison and additional sentences of 15 and 10 years in jail for lesser charges. The evidence showed they were caught in possession of RDX explosives capable of flattening a tall building.

Kenyan anti-terror officials said the two are members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (Qods Force), an elite and secretive unit which executes covert foreign missions. The court heard that the suspects were planning attacks on Israeli, American, British or Saudi Arabian interests in Kenya.

The Qods Force is the terrorist arm of the IRGC. Its officers operate covertly to spread Iran’s negative influences far and wide and they have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and attempts globally. Security agencies say their activities are a huge threat to Kenya.

CRYING FOR MERCY

Had Mohammad and Mousavi carried out their plot successfully, a lot of Kenyan blood would have been spilt in traumatising ways and one can only estimate how many lives would have been lost or adversely altered forever.

The magistrate captured it in his judgment: “I shudder to imagine the amount of life and property that would have been forever destroyed.

“Even as I hear the accused persons mitigating and crying for mercy, there is yet a louder cry by the blood of the previous victims of terrorist attacks — the orphan, the widow and widower — due to such heinous attacks.

“All are crying for justice.” Indeed, all are crying for justice.

BORNE THE BRUNT

The duo’s appeal against the sentences awaits the final verdict by the Supreme Court.

Had the two Iranians succeeded in their horrendous plot on Kenyan soil, though against foreign targets, it is Kenya that would have borne the brunt, suffered the loss of lives, bandaged the wounds and carried the scars of the strike more than any other nation.

To put things in perspective, the terrorist attack on the American embassy in Nairobi on August 7, 1998 killed 213 people. Of these casualties, 201 were Kenyans.

And there were thousands of others, estimated at 5,000, who were badly injured in the attack, again most of them ordinary Kenyans going about their business in the otherwise peaceful streets of the capital city that fateful morning. They still carry physical and psychological scars from that attack.

LOSING LOVED ONES

Many families across the country, besides suffering the trauma of either losing a loved one or having to contend with their loss of limbs, bear the burden of caring for the victims and hitherto dependants of the deceased.

The infrastructural and economic damage to Kenya was enormous.

It counted not to Osama bin Laden and his misguided disciples who died in the attack which nation he was fighting. That moved Bin Laden — a figure hitherto unknown in Kenya — to number one public enemy in Kenya.

Had a Kenyan police officer or soldier tracked down Bin Laden or any of his evil men, what would we have said if, with a clear shot on the enemy, the security agent decided not to take it, ostensibly because it was an “American war”?

TERRORISM

With all the atrocity visited on Kenya, would we ever have forgiven such a security agent? My simple view is No, we wouldn’t.

Even today, Kenya is a member of the family of nations. In many ways, nations are interdependent. Terrorism, for starters, can never be viewed in isolation. It is always part of a bigger puzzle.

If Kenya gave in to suggestions that we are a pawn in the war on terror who can stand aside so that the real actors can slug it out, we shall have surrendered our birthright to some of the most insidious, if atrocious, actors on the face of the earth.

United States president John F. Kennedy said: “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility — I welcome it.”

JFK’s hour of maximum danger is now. Kenyans must be eternally vigilant to defend the nation. All actors and citizens must act in concert to ensure that the types of the Iranian convicts face the full force of the law without an iota of fear or favour.

Mr Mugwang’a, a communications consultant, is a former crime and security reporter. [email protected]. @mykeysoul