Kenyan lawyer Abshir Abdi, dumped near the Ethiopian border after 11 days missing, wins temporary shield from arrest


The stone facade of the Judiciary building in Nairobi, with columns and a red tiled roof

The Judiciary building in Nairobi, home of Kenya’s High Court, on January 10, 2011 (Wing, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo].

A Nairobi court has barred police from arresting lawyer Abshir Abdi and his friend Ayub Maalim, a day after the two men were found in Sololo near the Ethiopian border, 11 days after their abduction.

Justice Alexander Muteti of the High Court ordered on Friday that the two men should not be arrested or detained, according to the Kenyan outlet Uzalendo News. The order stands until he rules on Monday, November 23, on whether the court still has jurisdiction over the habeas corpus case the Law Society of Kenya filed while they were missing. The Inspector General of Police and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations had opposed the application. Lawyers Eric Theuri, Ian Mutiso and Abner Mango asked the court to hear the men’s account of where they were held, and the Daily Nation reported that their captors released them with the words “run for your life.”

Abshir was found by herders at about 5 AM on Thursday in the Uran area of Sololo, in Marsabit County, about five kilometers south of the border, and police sources told the Nation that locals first took him for a refugee fleeing the fighting in Ethiopia. The National Police Service said the two men were found separately at the Rawana and Uran shopping centers and promised an impartial investigation.

CCTV footage shows armed men in tactical clothing and bulletproof vests cornering Abshir’s car on Muchai Road in Nairobi in the early hours of November 1. His brother told the court he believed the men were officers of the National Intelligence Service and the Anti Terrorism Police Unit, while a chief inspector of that unit had earlier told the court that investigators linked the lawyer to an alleged extortion syndicate. Abshir has not been charged with any offense.

“No stone left unturned: is finding lawyer Abshir Abdi and Ayub Maalim alive the same as answering who took them?” asked the Kenyan outlet Uzalendo News on Saturday. Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka demanded that the interior minister, the police chief and the head of criminal investigations establish who took the lawyer and who authorized it.

Sources

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