TERRORISM CONVICTION OVERTURNED, SUSPECT RELEASED

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 002174 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2018 TAGS: KCRM KE PINS PTER SUBJECT: TERRORISM CONVICTION OVERTURNED, SUSPECT RELEASED Classified By: POLOFF Samuel Madsen, reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) According to multiple news reports, Omar Said Omar, the only suspect convicted of a crime in connection with the 2002 attacks on an Israeli owned hotel and airliner near Mombasa, Kenya, was released from prison today after his conviction was overturned by the High Court of Kenya. In 2005 Omar and four others were acquitted of complicity in the 2002 attack on the Paradise Hotel and the near simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Arkia Airlines passenger jet. However, following his release Omar was immediately re-arrested on charges of illegal possession of weapons, including several anti-tank rockets, which had been found by police in a house where he was believed to have been living. Citing the fact that Omar was in police custody at the time the arms cache was seized, Justice Jackton Ojwang' overruled Omar,s conviction by a lower court on the grounds that the police had failed to connect him to the weapons. ¶2. (C) Comment: the Omar case highlights the weakness of the Kenyan legal system in attempting to prosecute suspects in terrorist cases in the absence of specific anti-terrorism legislation. In addition, the police lack the investigative skills and resources to collect and present evidence properly in Court. Recent efforts to pass anti-terrorism legislation have failed largely due to concerns by human rights organizations that the proposed law would give the government too much power, and accusations by Islamic politicians and community leaders that as proposed Kenyan anti-terrorism legislation is inherently anti-Muslim. The enactment of effective anti-terrorism legislation in Kenya will be difficult given that Kenya,s major political blocs continue to vie for support from Kenya,s Muslim minority. RANNEBERGER