ISIS Terror suspect acquitted by Mombasa Court

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Mombasa, KENYA: A terror suspect charged with being a member of the Islamic State of Syria (ISIS) and Islamic State of Levanter ISIL was on Thursday acquitted by a Mombasa court over lack of evidence.

Jillo Mohamed Jillo was charged with radicalization and seven counts of being in possession of radicle articles.

It is alleged that on May 24, 2016, outside Biashara House Mombasa, he was found in possession of several articles on his phone and 8 GB memory card.

In his ruling, Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Francis Kyambia said that the prosecution had not proved any charge beyond reasonable doubt.

“I have considered the evidence tendered by the prosecution against the accused and reached a conclusion that the prosecution has not proved the case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore proceed to acquit the accused on all charges,” said Kyambia.

In his evidence, Jillo had told the court that the Infixix phone he was arrested with belonged to his elder brother and that at no point had he ever contemplated joining ISIS/ISIL.

Kyambia said that there was no witness who was ever called to testify that indeed Jillo had professed to have been self-radicalized.

The magistrate said that regards to being in possession of articles in the Infinix phone, the prosecution failed to prove whose it belongs between his father and the elder brother.

“Although the accused person was arrested by several officers, the prosecution only presented only one arresting officer who said that they only arrest Jillo with the phone but went ahead to contradict himself by producing an inventory of items allegedly recovered from the house of the accused,” said Kyambia.

Kyambia said that there was no evidence on the accused person’s life and whether he did harbor any extremist tendencies.

The magistrate said that Jillo was a student in an institution populated by many youths of his age and could have been the right forum to gauge how the accused person used to associate.

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