ICC Note: Four suspects linked to the June and July 2014 al-Shabaab massacre in Mpeketoni and Hindi, Kenya are now free after a Kenyan court found insufficient evidence to convict them. Two men stood charged with 60 murders in Mpeketoni from June 15-17, 2014, while two others faced accusations surrounding twelve murders in the Hindi, Kenya area on July 5. The latter is the site where International Christian Concern (ICC) has partnered with local organizations to rebuild Christian homes al-Shabaab burned down in Malamande village where they murdered the twelve. Meanwhile, area Christians still feel the ongoing effects of persecution, struggling to pick up the pieces after losing fathers, sons, brothers, and homes going on two years later.
By Joackim Bwana
3/23/16 Mpeketoni, Kenya (Standard Digital Media) – Four key suspects charged with mass murder in Mpeketoni and Hindi, Lamu walked to freedom Wednesday after a High Court in Mombasa freed them for lack of evidence linking them to the killings of 72 people.
Mahadi Swaleh Mahadi alias Jesus, and Suleiman Ahmed Dyana, charged in relation to the June 15, 2014 Mpeketoni attack, were acquitted of all the 60 counts of murder levelled against them. There was no indication if the State will appeal the judgement.
Minutes later, Justice Martin Muya also freed Swaleh Shebe and Joseph Chege who had been charged with 12 counts of murder in Hindi on July 5 2014. They were also let lose because the State had failed to prove their guilt despite relying on the evidence of a self-confessed murder convict Gituge Ngamau, who the judge said was compromised by the police.
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