A dangerous terrorist who was jailed for 33 years for aiding the Westgate terror attack in 2013 was on Thursday charged in court with affray.
He appeared at the Makadara Law Courts after fighting with a cellmate at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Nairobi.
Mohamed Ahmed was charged with the offense after allegedly fighting with Abdirahaman Abdi.
They appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Mary Njagi.
The two were separately charged with committing the offense on February 1 within the highly guarded prison.
Abdi pleaded guilty to the charge while Ahmed denied committing the offense.
Ahmed was additionally charged with refusing to permit his fingerprints to be taken contrary to section 55 (5) as read with section 29 of the National Police Service Act of 2011.
The NPS Act requires fingerprints of all criminal suspects to be taken for profiling and criminal records.
Ahmed was accused of having declined to have his fingerprints taken by police constable Wycliffe Ondira of Kahawa West police station in Kasarani – Nairobi.
Affray is the offense of taking part in an unlawful fight in a public place.
The two had an argument in the presence of prison officers who could not comprehend the cause of their argument because they were speaking in the Somali language.
They allegedly went ahead and fought using a wooden bar and a stone.
The prison officers intervened to stop the fight and escorted both to the Kamiti prison hospital with injuries.
They were escorted to Kahawa West police station after they were treated and discharged from the hospital.
Police investigations established that the dispute between the two had existed for several days after Ahmed and other inmates accused Abdi of not being a committed Muslim.
He also demanded that Abdi be accompanying them to prayers.
Kamiti has in the past been seen as a ground for radicalism amid calls to put measures to address the trend.
The case will be mentioned on February 6 when the prosecution will avail its case against Abdi before he is sentenced while the hearing of Ahmed’s case will start on May 16 as they both remain in custody.
Ahmed is serving two jail terms handed by former Milimani Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi after he was found guilty of assisting al-Shabab extremists, who masterminded the four-day siege on the mall in Nairobi’s Westlands area where at least 67 people were killed.
Andayi sentenced him to 18 years for conspiracy to carry out a terror attack and an additional 15 years jail term for possession of materials promoting terrorism. The sentences are running concurrently.
