Kenya Muslims Angry at Arbitrary Arrest of Scholars
“If these people are innocent they should be released immediately without them suffering anymore,” the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims’ Director General Abdul Latif told Anadolu Agency.
“Before the government arrests clerics they should do a thorough investigation with their intelligence teams to avoid a backlash."
Abdul Latif comments followed the arrest of 12 Muslim scholars last Sunday.
The Anti-Terror Police Unit had requested 14 days to question the men, who were arrested Sunday on suspicion of radicalizing and recruiting youths to join the al-Shabab militant group.
Magistrate Dancun Mtai allowed five days “to strike a balance between the applicant’s duty to secure the country against acts of terrorism… and the suspects’ constitutional right of liberty,” the Daily Nation website reported.
Muslims in Kenya have continuously decried the profiling of their scholars as terrorist.
Abdul Latif lamented that the police had a record of arresting Muslim scholars, only to release them without charge later.
The Muslim scholars got arrested in a mosque in Mandera, a border town with Somalia that has been the site of intense militant activity.
Last year, 28 teachers were killed by al-Shabab in Hareri on the town’s outskirts.
There are nearly ten million Muslims in Kenya, which has a population of 36 million.
Kenya Muslims have been sensing eradication of their rights after their country was involved in the so-called war on terrorism in East Africa.
Supported by UK and US, Kenya's anti-terror police have been accused of targeting innocent Muslims with arbitrary arrests and disappearances.
Muslims problems increased following Westgate mall attack in which 67 people were killed, in September 2013. The attack was claimed by Somalia's militant al Shabaab group.
There is a long list of Muslim disappearances has been left unsolved up to date.
In April 2012, Muslim preacher, Samir Khan was arrested in Mombasa by men who identified themselves as police officers, and drove away with him.
He disappeared completely until a few days later, when his badly mutilated body was found dumped, several hundred kilometers away in a wildlife park. Police investigations have yielded no results.
On 13th November 2012, Badru Bakari Mramba was picked from his shop by police officers in Mombasa never to be seen again. Others who disappeared are Salim Abubakar, Mohammad Kassim, and Omar Shwaib.
