Kenya Brings 23 Somali Inmates At Mogadishu International Airport

By Aweys Osman Yusuf

Mogadishu, January 27, 2007 - At least 23 prisoners suspected of being linked to Somalia's Islamists, were deported from Kenya and passed to the capital Mogadishu on Saturday.

The Somali government spokesperson, Abdirahman Dinari, has told reporters after the flight carrying the prisoners landed at Mogadishu international airport that Islamist members were including in the prisoners, stopping short to give names and details of non-Islamist prisoners flown to Somalia today.

Security sources at Mogadishu airstrip told Shabelle that 10 women, 6 children and 16 middle-aged men were among the prisoners brought today. The sources said all the prisoners had their heads covered with sacks.

Prisoners deported by the Kenyan authorities were handed over to the Somali government several times in the past. The government did not comment about the prisoners' plight and where they were detained in the capital Mogadishu.

Asked where former prisoners who were brought to Mogadishu from Nairobi are detained, government spokesman Dinari said, "The press is not allowed to see or cover reports about those prisoners. They are under the government custody."

Source: Shabelle Media Network