Two Iranians jailed for terrorism now seek bond

Two Iranians sentenced to life imprisonment over terrorism now want to be released on bond pending appeal.

Mr Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammed and Mr Sayeed Mansour Mousavi were convicted of plotting attacks against Western interests in Kenya.

They were arrested in June 2012 and linked to a 15kg stash of military-grade explosives identified as RDX recovered on a Mombasa golf course.

The convicts are fighting the sentence on the grounds that the judgement was excessive considering what the law stipulates.

“We are attacking the sentence mainly on grounds that the judgment was wrong...in one count for example, they were convicted to serve 15 years while the maximum penalty allowed in law is seven,” Mr Kiraithe Wandugi said.

State prosecutors have, however, opposed the release of the suspects and equally urged the High Court to uphold the penalties imposed.

The duo will know their fate on October 14.

Experts testifying during the trial said the RDX cache was capable of bringing down the Times Tower building in Nairobi, the tallest building in East Africa.

ROUGHED UP JOURNALISTS

On Tuesday, Mr Mohammad and Mr Mousavi were accompanied by Iranian embassy officials, who roughed up journalists within the court precincts.

Mr Mousavi also attacked Nation photographer Paul Waweru.

Mr Wandungi said the decision by the magistrate who sent the Iranians to jail was “outrageous, wrong and illegal, and should be nullified as it was a misconception of the law”.

He said nobody was harmed as a result of what his clients were accused of. He asked the High Court to consider Mr Mohammad’s failing health as he had undergone heart surgery and “needs constant medication, which prison conditions cannot guarantee”.

The lawyer maintains in his appeal that both men are innocent and their trial was influenced by “extrajudicial forces”.

A police officer, Sgt. Erick Opagal of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, whose affidavit was attached to papers objecting to bond last year, asked the court to deny bail to the two because more than 85kg of the explosive material also believed to have been shipped into the country “has not been found.”

The two Iranians arrived in Kenya on June 12, 2012, and travelled to Mombasa on the same day to receive the explosives.

They travelled back to Nairobi, where they were arrested in a hotel on Uhuru Highway after receiving the explosives from an accomplice, who remains at large.

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