Kenya Court Sentences Two to Jail Terms for Aiding 2019 Hotel Attack

Kenya security forces at the scene of the Dusit hotel attack, Nairobi, Kenya, 15 January 2019

A court in Kenya on Thursday sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for aiding al-Shabaab militants in a 2019 attack on a Nairobi luxury hotel complex.

In January that year, gunmen shot their way into the Dusit hotel and office complex, killing 21 people in a siege that lasted 19 hours.

All five militants died in the attack.

Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali, both Kenyans, were convicted last month on charges of facilitation and conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

The judge said they had played a critical role by helping two of the attackers escape from a refugee camp using fake identity cards.

They had also provided financial assistance to the group.

Both men have denied the charges and now have 14 days to appeal their sentences.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab regularly carries out attacks in Kenya.

It aims to pressurise the government into withdrawing its peacekeeping troops from Somalia where it is waging an insurgency in a bid to seize power.