A court in Kenya has sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for their role in facilitating the 2019 attack on the DusitD2 hotel complex in Nairobi. The attack resulted in the deaths of 21 people.
Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali, both Kenyan nationals, were found guilty of providing financial assistance and procuring fraudulent identification documents for the militants involved in the assault. The militants were killed during the attack.
The al-Shabab militant group, which has ties to al-Qaida and is based in neighboring Somalia, claimed responsibility for the deadly daytime attack. It was one of the deadliest attacks inside Kenya.
The DusitD2 attack occurred six years after the Westgate Shopping Mall attack in Nairobi, which claimed 67 lives, and four years after the Garissa University attack in northern Kenya, where 147 students were killed.
Al-Shabab has repeatedly threatened and carried out attacks against Kenya in retaliation for the country’s military involvement in Somalia, where Kenyan troops have been fighting the group since 2011. The group continues to launch attacks in both Somalia and Kenya.
Judge Diana Kavedza stated during the sentencing that the judgment provided closure for the survivors of the attack.
She highlighted the extensive counterterrorism investigation conducted by Kenyan law enforcement, which targeted not only the attackers but also the individuals who provided financial, logistical, and coordinating support.
Foreign nationals, including an American and a Briton, were among the victims of the 2019 attack.
