Doctors on terror charges oppose DPP’s bid to set them free

Two doctors suspected to be members of Al-Shabaab have opposed a move by the State to release them.

Dr Ali Omar Salim and Dr Adan Hassan Hillow shocked the court when they opposed a bid by the Director of Public Prosecutions to withdraw terrorism-related charges facing them.

Instead, they want the case to go to full trial so that the court can either convict or free them.

“We want our names to be cleared by this court not through a short-cut,” the suspects told chief magistrate Esther Maina.

Defence lawyers Chacha Mwita and Mbugua Mureithi told the magistrate that the suspects graduated from Kenyan universities and were licensed by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board to operate their hospital - Afuan - in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

“The names of the suspects have been tarnished and need to be cleared through a trial. I urge this court to direct the prosecution to produce any evidence against the two,” Mr Mureithi told the magistrate.

He stated that the two were arrested on Mashujaa Day and prosecuted the following day. (READ: Two charged in Nairobi over al Shabaab links)

They were then escorted to Mandera for interrogation and later remanded for a week. Since then, the prosecution has not supplied the defence with witness statements, the magistrate was told.

Arrested again

The lawyer said the suspects were surprised when the DPP applied to withdraw the case under Section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The defence urged the court not to allow itself to be used as a “rubber stamp.”

He also urged the magistrate to decline the application by the State, saying an acquittal under this code did not guarantee that they would not be arraigned in court again. Such acquittals, he argued, were prolonged adjournments.

“The DPP should not be permitted to walk into court and walk away with the suspects under the pretext that the case has been withdrawn,” said Mr Mureithi.

The State, through prosecutor Onesmus Towett, however, assured the two doctors that they would not be re-arrested.

“I have been instructed to inform this court that the suspects will not be arrested and charged in connection with this offence,” he said.

Dr Salim and Dr Hillow have denied being members of Al-Shabaab militant group. They are out on bond.

The case will be heard on February 2 when the State will respond to the objections raised by the accused.