The High Court postponed the judgement in an appeal filed by the Garissa University terror attack convicts today.
According to the Judiciary, the presiding Judge, Lady Justice Cecilia Githua, has been transferred, and all pending Judgements before the Judge will be delivered only on notice.
During the prosecution of the appeal in July 2022, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) urged the High Court to uphold the conviction and sentence imposed by the Court, arguing that it was appropriate given their heinous actions that resulted in the gruesome death of 148 innocent students.
Rashid Charles Mberesero, Mohamed Ali Abikar, and Hassan Edin Hassan were found guilty of conspiracy to commit the 2015 Garissa University attack in which four gunmen killed 148 students.
They were also found guilty of belonging to the al-Shabab Islamist militant group in Somalia.
According to Judge Francis Andayi, the three men convicted “were members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group, whose members carried out the attack.”
Mr Andayi stated that prosecutors had proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the three men “knew the plot,” but he did not elaborate on the alleged conspiracy.
It was Kenya’s second-deadliest attack, after the al-Qaeda bombing of the US embassy in 1998, which killed more than 200 people.
By attacking young, future professionals, the massacre aimed to disrupt the country’s socio-economic growth and stability, as well as divide a multi-faith country.
Aggrieved by the conviction and sentencing, the terror convicts appealed the Judgement at the High Court seeking to overturn the Magistrate’s findings.
The conviction in some ways was a victory for the Kenyan police and prosecutors, who have constantly faced accusations of botching high-profile cases.
