Mombasa family risks forfeiting Sh1.5m property in Rashid Salim's terror case
Terror suspect Salim Mohamed Rashid appearing before a Mombasa Court on June 6, 2019.
The family of terror suspect Rashid Salim Mohamed, who was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in January, risks losing property worth over Sh1.5 million used to secure his freedom.
Mr Salim, 28, allegedly fled to Mozambique to join an international terror organisation fighting in the southeastern African country. A warrant of arrest was issued against him.
His lawyer, Yusuf Aboubakar, said the court is still waiting for the government to get Mr Salim extradited from the DRC to Kenya to resume his trial on terror charges that is pending in a Mombasa Court.
A determination has not been made on whether the family will forfeit the property, including a vehicle, to the state, Mr Aboubakar said.
Section 131 of the Criminal Procedure Code gives the court the authority to order forfeiture of property used as security to free an accused person if he is convicted or fails to attend judicial proceedings.
With the case against Mr Salim still open, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) could ask the court to order that the security be forfeited.
Mr Aboubakar said he is fighting to stop the forfeiture of the property.
“The surety did his work to ensure the suspect appeared in court for the hearing of his case, and when he went missing, the surety made a report to the police,” he said.
He said the suspect’s father, Mohamed Rashid Mohamed, monitored his son’s movements and even secured him a job while he was out on bond to keep him busy.
He argues that the government has remained silent since Mr Salim was arrested in DRC more than eight months ago, putting into question its role in ensuring that its citizens are tried for crimes committed in the country.
He argued that Kenya can use its influence in the East Africa Community to get Mr Salim extradited back home to face the law for criminal offences committed within or outside the country.
“If it cannot do that then it shows some kind of weakness on her part,” he said
Mr Aboubakar said he had followed up the matter with the Foreign Affairs ministry and Interpol since Mr Salim was arrested in early January in the DRC but he did not make much progress.
“We are yet to get official communication on the matter. We are mulling suing the state for refusing to extradite Mr Salim into the country,” he said.
Mr Salim, who has a Sh10 million bounty on his head, was arrested in January in the DRC allegedly on his way to South Africa
Before his dramatic arrest earlier this year, a person suspected to be him was captured on an undated video beheading an alleged Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (Isis) traitor.
In the five-minute clip, terrorists in military uniforms and armed with machetes and rifles are seen shouting in Swahili and Arabic that traitors must be killed.
Mr Salim left Kenya in 2019 after jumping bail in a terror case that he was facing in Mombasa.
He was accused of being a member of the terrorist group Al-Shabaab and being in possession of items used to make home-made bombs.
Court documents show that he was found with twin stranded wires, batteries connected in a series using a piece of carton secured by an elastic string, inductor coils, black particles and white explosive powder.
The offences were allegedly committed on March 8 in Ngomeni, Kwale County. He denied the charges and was granted a Sh1.5 million bond with one surety of the same amount, which he secured.
He attended court proceedings briefly before disappearing in October 2020.
Back in 2017, Mr Salim had been deported from Turkey, where he was studying computer engineering at Istanbul Kultur University, and charged in a Shanzu, Mombasa, court with terror-related offences.
He was deported on suspicion of being a member of Isis after being found on the border heading to Syria.
After a two-year trial, Mr Salim was acquitted for lack of evidence, only to be arrested in 2019 at Moi International Airport in Mombasa over terror links.
Kenyan authorities claim Mr Salim is an Al-Shabaab member who was on his way to join Isis when he was intercepted by Anti-Terror Police Unit officers.
When he disappeared in October 2020, at least eight witnesses had given evidence in the case.
Earlier this year, Mr Salim made headlines yet again after he was arrested and detained by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), who suspected him of being part of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
He was arrested in Beni, a city in the northeastern DRC, on the western border of Virunga National Park and the Rwenzori Mountains.
His family does not know his whereabouts. They plan to seek court intervention to compel the Kenyan government to bring him back home.