By Nancy Gitonga
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
The wife of an Islamic State (IS) terror group leader Mohammed Abdi Ali, who is linked to planning an anthrax attack in the country, was yesterday arraigned in a Nairobi court.
Nuseiba Mohammed Haji, a member of the (IS) group and a medical student at Mubende Hospital in Uganda, appeared before senior principal magistrate Martha Mutuku. She was, however, not charged with any offence because police are seeking to be allowed 30 days to continue holding her to complete investigations.
On Tuesday last week, the court issued a warrant of arrest for Nuiseba after her husband, who studied at Kampala International University prior to returning to Kenya, was presented in court. Ali was arrested on April 29 at Wote county hospital in Makueni. Police allege that he was a doctor at the hospital and used different names.
Senior state counsel Duncan Ondimu while making application for more time to detain Nuiseba, said Ali, currently in custody, led to the arrest of his wife in Uganda. Prosecution told the court that the suspects are alleged to have engaged in a series of terror activities in the country and at the time of arrest, electronic devices, phones and a laptop were seized.
The prosecutor also asked the court to issue a warrant of arrest against two associates Ahmed Hish and Farah Dagne, also medics in Kitale. They have been on the run since Ali was arrested. The magistrate ordered arrest of the two.
Mutuku also ordered Nuiseba to be detained at the Anti- Terror Police Unit until this morning when her lawyer, Kioko Kilukumi, will reply to the prosecution application for more time. The prosecution alleges that the suspects are accused of planning large-scale attacks using anthrax — a bacteria that can sicken or kill people.
According to police, preliminary investigations indicate that the terror network linked to Ali and his wife has been engaged in radicalisation and recruitment of university students in the country.