Man on police wanted list held at border

Police have seized a man who has been on the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit wanted list for years.

Mr Salim Awadh Salim and Tanzanians Twah Ali alias Ngwaba and Nasaro Hammed Kimwanga were arrested at the Lunga-Lunga border.The three are being held at the Mombasa Port Police Station.Mr Salim is suspected to have links with Somalia’s al-Shabaab militia, which has close ties with al-Qaeda terrorists.According to a senior Coast ATPU officer who did not want to be named, Mr Salim will be charged with using a vehicle belonging to Jamaica’s controversial Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, which is being held at Coast Provincial Police headquarters.Sheikh al-Faisal was deported from the country last year, causing an uproar among Muslims. The officer said Mr Salim had used the vehicle before abandoning it.

“The two Tanzanians will be interrogated and handed over to the authorities in their country if found innocent,” said the officer.Police said four other suspects managed to escape.Coast police boss Leo Nyongesa confirmed the weekend arrests.“We will take Mr Salim to court,” he said.Meanwhile, civil society organisations have called for the release of Human rights activist Al Amin Kimathi who is being held by the Uganda government on terrorism charges.Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch demanded Mr Kimathi’s release. Alternatively, they said in a letter to the Ugandan authorities, details should be provided on the charges against him.In the letter copied to the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign affairs, the two organisations also called for an impartial inquiry into human rights violations associated with the arrest and transfer to Uganda of 13 Kenyans.The two governments, the organisations said, should support the inquiry which will probe allegations that legal procedure was not followed while arresting the 13 Kenyans.

“Al-Amin Kimathi seems to have been arbitrarily arrested for carrying out his legitimate human rights work - providing legal support to the suspects charged in connection with the bomb attack,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Africa Programme director..nationmedia.com