Tag: mosques

Mosques to be re-opened

Posted on by Lourraine Chituyi

The government on Wednesday resolved to reopen four Mombasa mosques that were  shut down on Thursday last week after they were suspected to have been taken  taken over by radical Muslim Youth.

The Four Masjid Musa ,Sakina ,Swafaa and  Mina  will be handed over to the Muslim community on Thursday .

Speaking after consultative meeting with  top security agencies and Muslim leaders ,Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho said the four mosque will be managed by community elders in respective areas.

‘National government in conjunction with the county will provide adequate security to facilitate the smooth running of all the mosques.” Joho said.

Joho warned that radical youth  who might  attempt  to  interfere  with management of the  mosque will be dealt with.

Addressing the media ,Joho urged Muslim faithfuls to resume prayers in their respective mosques without any fear. Normal schedule of prayers will resume on Thursday.

Top security chief led by Mombasa county commander Robert Kitur ,Supkem and Cipk officials were among those who attended the meeting .

On November 17 police raided the two mosque and recovered firearms including grenade ,pistol ,petrol bombs and Bomb making materials .

Police are holding 13 suspects who were arrested during the raid that saw one youth shot dead by police .

– The Star

Coast leaders demand for mosques to be opened

Posted on by Lourraine Chituyi

Muslim political,human rights leaders have called for the immediate opening of four mosques closed down by the government in Mombasa over radicalization of youth.

The leaders say closing down the mosques is a violation of Muslims’ right to worship .

Police have closed down the Shuhadaa and Mujahideen (formerly Musa and Sakina) mosques in Majengo and Swafaa and Minaa mosques in Mwandoni area.

Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims chairman Professor Abdul-Ghafur El-Busaidyand, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir  and Kisauni Mp Rashid Bezimba says the move only serves to escalate the already bad situation by provoking religious emotions

Police raid mosques in Mombasa

Posted on by Lourraine Chituyi

One man has been killed and more than 200 people arrested during raids on two mosques in the Kenyan city of Mombasa, which police accused of having links with Somalia’s al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab fighters.

Kenya has been trying to break up fighter networks it blames for a series of attacks on the coast, saying many recruits were inspired by al-Shabab.

Security forces began the operation in the early hours of Monday morning, targeting the Musa and Sakina mosques in the port city.

A 20-year-old man was shot dead by police during the raid on the Musa mosque, after he tried to throw a grenade at officers, Mombasa police chief Geoffrey Mayek said.

The Reuters news agency, quoting police officials, put the number of arrests at 251.

Mayek said that eight grenades, a pistol, six bullets, machetes, daggers and literature on warfare were found at the two mosques.

Police also said they had seized mobiles and laptops, alongside literature and videos that they said referred to former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Kenyan preachers accused of promoting violence.

“These mosques have been notorious for radicalising our youth and recruiting them into al-Shabab,” Nelson Marwa, the commissioner responsible for administering Mombasa County, told Reuters.

Civil rights group condemned the raids, saying the security agents were targeting Muslims unfairly, deepening distrust in a Muslim community that already accuses the government in mainly Christian Kenya of sidelining them.

“The police have again defiled the mosques and turned them into camps of violence and have arrested many innocent people and even killed one unfairly,” Hussein Khalid, director of Haki Africa, a local rights group, told Reuters.

Businesses in the Majengo area where the mosques are situated were closed as heavily armed police patrolled the neighbourhood on trucks. Past raids have sparked protests.

Source :Reuters