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Guantanamo 'holds man illegally'
17/07/2008 14:36 - (SA)
Nairobi - The family of a Kenyan man in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention facility on Wednesday launched a fresh bid to have him returned to Kenya, six months after their initial attempt failed.
Mohammed Abdul Malik, 37, was transferred to the US military base in Cuba in March 2007 on suspicion of involvement in 2002 bomb attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
Mariam Mohammed and Salim Khamis, a sister and half-brother of Malik, on Wednesday sued Police Commissioner Major General Ali Hussein Mohamed and Attorney General Amos Wako for facilitating an unlawful transfer to US custody.
"The government of Kenya has tacitly and/or actively connived with the US government in the continued indefinite, unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional detention without trial of the subject," the document said.
High court throws out suit
The family asked the court to declare the transfer unconstitutional and thereby order the government to start a process to have Malik returned home.
In November last year, the high court threw out a similar suit, saying the court had no juridiction to order Malik's return even though the suspect's basic rights might have been violated.
Malik, a former teacher in a Koranic school in Mombasa before his arrest, joined many other suspects transferred to Guantanamo in September 2006 from secret CIA detention facilities overseas.
Last year, the Pentagon said that Malik was picked up in east Africa and came into US custody this year before being transferred to Guantanamo, without providing further details.
It said Malik had admitted taking part in the 2002 Paradise Hotel bombing in Mombasa, that killed 13, as well as an attempt to bring down an Israeli airliner in the city.
- AFP
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