Police officers have arrested a Senate staffer in connection to an Al Shabaab plot to bomb the Kenyan parliament. Ali Abdulmajid, who has worked for the Kenyan parliament for nearly a decade, was arrested by officers on Sunday.
Kenya: Parliament staff member Ali Abdulmajid held by police-intelligence suggests he planned to facilitate attack:http://t.co/VIZKmoNkz2
— samira sawlani (@samirasawlani) April 27, 2015
Senate staff arrested over plot to bomb Kenyan Parliament ~~>http://t.co/ZJpRbX0CD1 via @StandardKenya
— modern kenyan corps (@moderncorps) April 27, 2015
A leaked intelligence report that was widely shared on social media on Monday linked him to an Al Shabaab plot to execute an audacious attack on one Kenya’s most heavily guarded buildings. The report authored by Nairobi Central Police OCPD Paul Wanjama makes reference to Abdulmajid although it doesn’t explicitly mention him.
“The group intends to use an operative who is affiliated to Pumwani Riyadh Mosque who is also a staff member at the senate to actualize the attack,”
reads the report in part. Abdulmajid has been the vice- chairman of the Riyadh Mosque since 2009.
Ali Abdulmajid Senate staff wanted to facilitate bombing of Kenyan Parliament,wah pic.twitter.com/CCCVExT4ig
— Onyango K’Onyango (@OnyangoKonyango) April 27, 2015
Abdulmajid association with the Pumwani Riyadh Mosque landed him in trouble in 2011 when a UN Monitoring Group on Eritrea and Somalia accused the mosque of funding Al Shabaab. Abdulmajid strenuously fought the allegations, even writing to then Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo to request an investigation to clear his name.
Ali Abdulmajid is vicechair at Pumwani Riyadh Mosque-a UN report claimed funds raised for the Mosque a few yrs ago were wired to shabaab
— samira sawlani (@samirasawlani) April 27, 2015
2013 he wrote to former IG Kimaiyo denying any link or that of the Mosque with-Shabaab-He has continued to work as a parliamentary official
— samira sawlani (@samirasawlani) April 27, 2015
.@StandardKenya says #Kenya arrested parliamentary officer Ali Abdulmajid, who UNSEMG loosely tied to terror funding. pic.twitter.com/IxaRQQaaGb — Editor (@SomaliaNewsroom) April 27, 2015
Prominent human rights advocate Al-Amin Kimathi has however leapt to Abdulmajid’s defense pouring scorn on intelligence reports linking him to terror.
@samirasawlani The only “intelligence” they have is the fact that he’s Vice Chair of @PumwaniRiadhaM. Rest is balderdash. Profiling.
— Al-Amin Kimathi (@alaminkimathi) April 27, 2015
Kimathi also thinks Abdulmajid’s arrest might have less to do with his alleged link to Al Shabaab and more do with the land tussle surrounding Gikomba market a substantial part of which is own by the mosque.
@samirasawlani He’s a victim of wrangles over the resourceful Mosque which owns the bulk of the Gikomba market having been battling grabbers
— Al-Amin Kimathi (@alaminkimathi) April 27, 2015
