Blast car owner out on Sh8m bail

Mr Ahmed Dugal Ali, the owner of the car which exploded at the Pangani police station on April 23, 2014 killing two terrorists and two police officers on board when he was charged at the Milimani Law Court with terrorism related offences. He was released on a Sh8 million bond. The case will be heard on July 1, 2014. PHOTO/PAUL WAWERU

What you need to know:

  • Mr Ahmed Dugal Ali was charged with abetting terrorism by providing the car in which two police officers and two terrorists died at Nairobi’s Pangani Police Station on April 23.
  • Two weeks ago, when the police requested time to investigate the case.
  • The prosecution said it had no instructions to oppose the release of the accused on bond and left it to the discretion of the court to set the bail conditions.

The owner of a car that blew up in a suspected Al-Shabaab bombing in Nairobi was Monday freed on Sh8 million bail.

Mr Ahmed Dugal Ali was charged with abetting terrorism by providing the car in which two police officers and two terrorists died at Nairobi’s Pangani Police Station on April 23.

He was also charged with offering shelter to one of the attackers, Mr Mohamed Abass Hassan, who died in the explosion.

The heinous act

The prosecution claimed that Mr Dugal harboured the man knowing that he was a terrorist at Nyayo Estate in Embakasi, Nairobi, between March and April 23.

He is accused of giving support to a terrorist group.

The charge states that he supported the commission of a terror act by “providing the motor vehicle to be used in carrying out the heinous act”.

The suspect has an alternative of depositing a Sh10 million bond to secure his freedom before the hearing date on July 1.

Two other men, Mr Abdiaziz Bulle Ali and Mr Mohammed Abdullahi Falir, who had been arrested and detained alongside Mr Dugal a day after the incident, were set free after the anti-terrorism police said they had no charges to connect them to the offence.

They may appear as witnesses in the case, police said.

The prosecution said it had no instructions to oppose the release of the accused on bond and left it to the discretion of the court to set the bail conditions.

Lawyer Mbugua Mureithi for Mr Dugal asked the court to take judicial notice of the fact that he presented himself to the police after learning that his car had been used in the terror strike against his will.

Presented himself

“He is a man whose conduct should be rewarded by this court by setting lenient terms of bail... he has been in custody for the last 18 days, and he is a citizen of this country.

He was arrested after he presented himself to the police to offer details on how his motor vehicle was used without his consent,” the lawyer said.

Mr Mureithi asked the court to uphold Mr Dugal’s rights to innocence “till proven otherwise” while determining his release on bond.

Two weeks ago, when the police requested time to investigate the case, an investigating officer swore an affidavit linking the suspect to Al-Shabaab, saying, he had close links with one of the men who died when the car blew up.