Two Mombasa families fear for safety of relatives after 'police' night raids

Two families in Mombasa are living in fear after unknown people in police combat regalia raided their homes, taking one man and just missing the other, in two separate incidences.

The family of Jamil Jamal, 26, said they do not know his whereabouts since he was taken on the night of April 17.

The family of Abdallah Mohamed, 21, fear he is on the wanted list after armed people, said to be police officers, failed to identify him after raiding their house on April 16.

The two families narrated their ordeals to journalists at Muslims for Human Rights office near the Mombasa law courts on Wednesday.

Salma Salim, Jamals’ mother, said they were asleep in their house at Kidogo Basi, Mvita subcounty, on the night of April 17, when they heard banging on the door.

Those who were banging were more than seven and had surrounded the house, according to Salim. They broke down the main door, forcing their entry.

“My son was in his room. My son came to my room and told me to go to the door, that he had heard it being broken,” Salim narrated.

“'Who is it?' Silence. 'Okay! Don’t break the door I will open'.”

But before she did, the door swung open and six armed men wearing balaclavas, with some wearing combat uniforms, entered.

Others stood guard in strategic positions outside the house.

Salim said they brushed her aside and went to Jamal’s room where they took him aside and started interrogating him.

“I don’t know what they were talking about. I was fear-stricken and could barely move. At that time I was outside the house,” she said.

After a few minutes of interrogation, they came out with Jamal and bundled him into a waiting Land Cruiser.

“They then took me back inside and started collecting our phones. They took my two phones, our house help’s phone and Jamal’s phone. They then ransacked the house. I don’t know what they were looking for,” a teary Salim said.

Seven days later, Salim still does not know why her son was taken or where they took him.

“We have gone to all police stations, hospitals and mortuaries in the Coast and still there is no trace of Jamal,” the mother said.

They reported the matter to Tononoka police station under OB 3/18/4/2024.

She posed, “Why is the government doing this to us? What wrong have we done to deserve such harassment and humiliation? If my son has done something wrong, why don’t they tell us what it is and where he is?”

Now, Salim said, she is traumatised and jumps at any loud sound.

“I fear being in the house alone. I cannot stay in any room alone,” she said.

Mohamed, who lives in Kaloleni, Mvita, was lucky.

He narrowly escaped abduction on the night of April 16, when about eight people, also in combat gear, raided their house in the wee hours.

His mother, Fatma Abdallah, said the people, who identified themselves as police officers, also broke down her door and forced their entry.

“They were armed. One who looked like he was the leader kept on pointing at different rooms while another kept asking who occupied the rooms,” Abdallah said.

The mother said she was later told that the men were looking for a young man with dreads who was on the police list of wanted persons.

“They mentioned my son’s nickname when he was a boy but then mixed it up with the description that he had dreads. My son has never had dreads,” Abdallah said.

She said the men went to his room, found him sleeping, questioned him and left him.

“I came to Muhuri to surrender my boy because I have no peace in my mind,” Abdallah said.

Mohamed said the nickname Madawa came about because of his hair, when he was young, which was golden in colour.

He has been in hiding since the day of the raid and only came out after the mother was advised to seek help from Muhuri.

Muhuri rapid response Francis Auma helped surrender Mohamed to the police at the Coast regional police headquarters.

According to Abdallah, the police said they were not involved in Mohamed’s attempted abduction, telling her no officer was sent on that kind of mission on that date.

“They detained Mohamed for questioning and said they will call me after they are done with him,” Abdallah said.

However, Auma said they are convinced it is the police who are responsible for the two incidences owing to past experiences.

“We are not against police doing their work. We are against them doing their work outside the law,” the vocal human rights defender said.

He said there are legal ways of summoning suspects.

“You cannot invade someone’s house in the wee hours of the night in the name of wanting to interrogate a suspect. That is wrong,” Auma said.

He said Muhuri will be keenly following on the matter and will do whatever it takes to ensure police do not break the law in trying to enforce the law.

This comes a few days after Muhuri won a case in which they sued the police who executed a man in cold blood in a case of mistaken identity.

The courts awarded the family of Omar Faraj Sh6.5 million in compensation.

During the annual Eid Baraza on April 13, Mombasa county commissioner Mohamed Noor said they will up the ante in the fight against crime and drugs in the county, revealing that they have a list of more than 100 suspects on their radar.

This follows Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s order to crack down on drugs, drug dealers and crime in Mombasa.