The High Court has revoked the suspension of a Kenya Airways employee who allegedly filmed the arrival of a China Southern Airlines plane on February 26.
The plane arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with 239 passengers from China, the epicentre of the Covid-19 disease, raising fears of public safety.
Justice Weldon Korir also barred the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations from arresting and prosecuting Gire Ali over alleged terrorism.
In court documents, Ali says he witnessed the landing of the aircraft at the JKIA despite a ban on flights from China due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
“My employer, Kenya Airways Limited had suspended service to Guangzhou, China which information was communicated on our official Twitter handle.
“The notice was in effect to the coronavirus which originates from the Republic of China,” he said.
He says he was shocked to see the China Southern Airlines Plane landing at the Airport despite the communication by KQ on January 31.
Ali through lawyer Danstan Omari told Justice Korir that KQ had not revoked its notice suspending the China Southern Airlines and as a security agent he was concerned.
He was summoned on the same day, between 2pm and 3pm for questioning at the Kenya Airways corporate investigations offices but never showed up.
The following day, Ali went to Kenya Airways corporate investigations offices where he was questioned for six hours.
He said that during the questioning, he was threatened by head of corporate security Bernard Oganga.
Oganga profiled him because of his ethnicity and threatened him that they would involve the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in the matter, he said.
“There is no legal or factual justification for KQ to threaten him because he has been their bona fide employee who has at all times acted in good faith. The airline was punishing me for exposing to the nation a threat to their life,” he says.
He said the threats and suspension from work are meant to intimidate him and to interfere with the enjoyment of his constitutional rights.
Ali has been an assistant security agent for Kenya Airways since January 16 last year.
His duties include providing security to various aircraft, protection of the aircraft, passengers, crew, cargo, courier and company assets.
The court directed him to serve the respondents in the case with his application ahead of the hearing on March 5.
(edited by O. Owino)
