High school student arrested over Westgate attack finally released

Monday, November 04, 2013

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A high school student who was dramatically arrested by police last month, following the Westgate terrorist attack, for allegedly being a secret operative of the Al-Shabaab militia has been quietly released after nothing was found on him.

Sixteen-year-old Muhsin Ali Muhsin, a Form Two student of Murang’a Road Mixed Secondary School in Nairobi, was released after rigorous investigations by various arms of the security services. The alleged link to the Somali group was not established.

“I am not a member of Al-Shabaab and I have never been. I wonder why police chose to level such baseless allegations against me and ruin my reputation in the eyes of many people. Even going to school has become a problem now because of the suspicions they have created against me,” he said.

Muhsin said that in his days of incarceration in various police stations, police officers interrogating him demanded that he owns up to being a secret operative of the Somalia-based group.

“They insisted that I was an Al-Shabaab member and demanded that I make a confession or else I would face grave consequences. They even demanded that I speak Somali though I can’t speak that language since I am from the Kamba community,” he said.

Dramatic arrest

Muhsin was dramatically arrested in school on October 7, when police officers stormed into the learning institution and arrested him while his fellow students and teachers watched in utter amazement. His arrest attracted huge media attention both locally and internationally.

The student indicated that even after being cleared of the accusations of being an Al-Shabaab member, the school administration still viewed him suspiciously. He decided to transfer to another school to escape the stigma.

“Teachers and students looked at me with suspicion. Police have ruined my name. They should have done proper investigations before arresting me in front of my school mates. But I hope to eventually overcome the soiling of my name,” he said.

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