The father of suspected terrorist Salim Rashid Mohamed who was arrested in the DR Congo a few days ago now claims that he was not aware his son was alive.
Mohamed Rashid said that he always thought that Salim had been kidnapped or had been killed after he last saw him on December 4, 2020.
“For some time, I had believed my son had either been killed or hijacked by unknown people,” Rashid told a local daily.
Rashid said that it was through the arrest that he knew his son was still alive. He said that he was happy to learn from the news that his son was alive even though he was under police custody.
The father has now asked the authorities to offer a fair hearing for his son who is facing terror-related charges.
“I’m praying for a fair trial in court when he is brought back to the country,” Rashid said.
Rashid said that he doesn’t understand how his son ended up being a terror suspect since he was a bright and disciplined student while he was still in school.
He revealed that Salim scored an A- in his KCSE exams at Aga Khan Secondary School in 2014.
Salim was arrested at Kombani in Kwale in 2017 in a raid over suspicions that he had been recruited by the Al-Shabab.
He was later released on a cash bail of Ksh1.5 million.
Before his escape in 2020, Salim flew to Turkey, where he had travelled to purportedly study an undergraduate course.
He would later be deported by Turkish authorities after he was arrested while attempting to cross over to Syria.
A Ksh.10 million bounty was placed on his head with anyone with any links to his whereabouts before he was arrested in DRC.
