Widows of Terror suspects

WIDOWS OF TERROR SUSPECTS

Ms. Fatma Ahmed, 32, a mother of a 14 years old girl, said she was afraid her daughter might not be able to get ID when she reaches 18 because of her father’s ‘sins’. “Among the documents required to acquire an ID is her father’s death certificate, but getting it is a he problem,” she says. She admitted that her husband Swaleh Nabhan, was a terror suspect but asked: “should a child suffer because of her father’s mistakes? Nabhan is believed to have masterminded the Kikambala attack in 2002 and was put on the list of most wanted terror suspects by the US government. Nabhan was also wanted in Kenya for the same crimes, as well as for his alleged involvement in the 1998 boming of the United States embassy in Nairobi in which over 200 people were killed and 5,000injured.

Ms. Mwanamkasi Mzee, whose husband Abdulkadir Rehan was among those killed in 2014 in a terror attack in Mpeketoni, Lamu County, also complained about government “victimization”. “Does it mean my children should suffer because of the transgressions of their father? We are Kenyan and so are our children,” said Ms. Mzee. The two were among the group of women who gathered to share their pain following the violent deaths or disappearance of their husbands or relative who either join Al-Shabab or fell victim to forced disappearance.

The women appealed to the community to accept them. Kemwa CEO and founder Farida Rashid urged the women to co-operate with the government and report cases of people who have disappeared. “Cooperating with the government will be one way of ending this menace that is destroying our society,” said Ms. Rashid.

Ms Sasa Suleiman, whose terror suspect husband Hemed Salim disappeared in February 2014, says raising her children alone has become a huge challenge. She says she does not know whether to declare herself a widow or not because she is yet to get answers from the police about his whereabouts. “I do not have anyone on whose shoulder to cry on. I am struggling to raise my children alone but what pain me is that I do not know whether my husband is alive or not, that is the only thing I would like to know,” she said.

Ms. Rukia Alfan, whose brother was among those who joined Al- Shabab and was killed in Somalia, says one way to solve the problem of youths joining the terrorist group is for the community to accept them when they return home and menace instead of stigmatizing them and their families. “My brother disappeared and, after six months called and said he was in Somalia. This is a problem we are facing here, but we have to stand together and get to know these people that take our children or influence them into joining those terrorist groups,” she said her family is stigmatized and has been forced to move house three times because of discrimination. “It has now become hard for us to interact with other people. The same people we used to call friends have changed. They no longer want to be seen interacting with us,” she said.

Meanwhile parents or youths who disappeared say their efforts at follow up have hit a brick walls. Last week, human rights activists said there was a need for a team of lawyers to be constituted to investigate extra – judicial killing and forced disappearance. They say an independent judicial commission of inquiry should be set up to investigate the killing which are rampant in the north eastern ad the coast region.