Court frees most wanted terror suspect on bond
By Monica Kagia
A Mombasa court has released a terror suspect arrested by police three weeks ago.
Aboud Khalid was released on a Sh5 million bond and two Kenyan sureties despite objection by the police who described him as flight risk and dangerous.
The suspect, who was on the list of most wanted terror suspects, had been on run for more than a year.
But Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti said: "The court cannot be used to infringe the fundamental rights of any persons even those suspected of terrorist activity."
Khalid has been charged with being a member of Al-Shabaab and obstructing a police officer from carrying out his duty.
The court was told the suspect attempted to attack police officer with a knife.
The particulars of the charges are that the suspect, with intent to maim, unlawfully attempted to strike the officer with a knife at Tudor area in Mombasa on September 11.
Prosecution told the court that the accused has with links in Syria, Somalia, Tanzania and three other countries and was allegedly behind the planning and execution of terror attacks in Northern Kenya and at the Coast.
Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) officer Dickson Indarub in an affidavit had told the court that Salim Aboud Khalid is an Al Shaabaab operative who has successfully coordinated various terror attacks within the country.
During the arrest, Aboud was shot and injured by ATPU officers. He has been attending court on a wheelchair.
