Mosque Raids Crossed Line: Kenya Muslims

Recent police raids targeting Kenya mosques have outraged the country’s Muslim community, seeing authorities as “crossing the red line” and demanding a unified stance to end such tactics of targeting Muslim places of worship in the name fighting terrorism.

“If the police had a problem with some individuals, it should have arrested them as individuals instead of conducting dramatic raids on mosques and announcing their closure,” Abdullahi Abdi, the chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum, told OnIslam.net.
“Muslims are not happy at all and now see the government as their enemy,” he added, terming police raids as “crossing the red line”.

He termed police tactic as counterproductive, saying it has made Muslims in Kenya feel as being unfairly targeted in the name of fighting terrorism.
Abdi cautioned that the extreme action taken by police in raiding the mosques and arresting hundreds of youth will result in radicalizing many Muslims.
“Muslim places of prayer deserve respect and sanctity which should not be violated by police,” he said.
“The government has intelligence machinery to identify individuals who may be causing trouble but attacking mosques is unacceptable.”
Abdi’s comments echoed a growing anger among Kenyan Muslims following four raids that targeted mosques this week.
On Monday and Wednesday, hundreds of heavily-armed paramilitary police descended on Musa, Sakina, Swafaa and Minaa mosques in the Coastal city of Mombasa and arrested hundreds of youths.
A 20 year old high school student was killed by police in one of the raids.
Police claimed that the mosques are being controlled by “irresponsible youths” who preach “extremists messages” and threaten the security of the country.
They have also accused Muslim youths in the mosques of fuelling insecurity incidences, such as assassinations of people working with the government in its counterterrorism activities.
Police claimed that they the mosque raids yielded an assortment of weapons in the mosques, a claim that was rejected by many Muslims in Kenya.
On his part, Billow Kerrow, an outspoken Muslim leader who sits in the management committee of Nairobi’s Jamia Mosque, the largest in Kenya termed the attack as totally misguided and provocative.
He expressed doubts about police claims of seizing dangerous weapons in the mosques, saying police are trying to manipulate public opinion in their favour and justifying the criminal raids.

Lost Trust
For many Muslims, the latest raids have been deemed as a pretext by the Kenyan government to win the support of the west for fighting “terrorism”.
“Attacking mosques is a grave crime,” Human Rights defender and Mombasa County Senator Hassan Omar said.
“It appears that the government is keen to hype the insecurity threats from Muslims to win more diplomatic and financial support from western countries.
He said the heavy-handed approach will backfire on the security agencies as more Muslims feel being targeted.
“We need smart and targeted approaches that go after those who are committing criminal acts in the name of the Islamic cause. But attacking mosques and arresting everyone one on sight won’t work. It will only escalate the problem,” Omar added.
Yusuf Mohammed, a Muslim trader in Nairobi, has also voiced scepticism over police claims of finding weapons in the raided mosques, including grenades, petrol bombs, and guns.
He insisted that police planted the weapons inside the mosque to justify their criminal attack on the houses of worship and garner support from Kenyans
“It is just like the classic case where police used to plant drugs on people they had arrested in order to build a phony case against them. There is no way people can hide weapons in mosques which are open to everyone to enter. This appears to be disinformation by police,” he said.
Editorials in the Kenyan media as well as commentators have criticised the heavy-handed approach by police to attack the mosque terming the move as counterproductive.
“Using raw force and seizing every youth in sight and labelling them Al-Shabaab is counterproductive. Moreover, there is danger in opening up religious rifts as the crackdown targets members of one faith. It behoves the police and other security teams involved in the operation to exercise restraint,” read the editorial of Daily Nation, the largest and most influential daily in Kenya.
Macharia Gaitho, an influential commentator in Kenya, has also warned against the government’s heavy-handed approach to Muslims.
“The more the government reacts with a heavy hand, the more the moderate voices of reason within the Muslim community are isolated and drowned out, and the more the hardliners spread their tentacles,” Gaitho wrote.
On the other hand, Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa had defended the operation.
He told Daily Nation newspaper that while the government is fully aware of the respect the mosques ought to be accorded, but it will not sit back whenever they are misused by individuals with evil motives.
He said security agencies will also flush out radical youths, who have taken over some mosques and ensure that such mosques are run by responsible people who have no links with criminal activities
Kenya Muslims have been sensing eradication of their rights after their country was involved in the so-called war on terrorism in East Africa.
Supported by UK and US, Kenya’s anti-terror police have been accused of targeting innocent Muslims with arbitrary arrests and disappearances.
Muslims problems increased following last September Westgate mall attack in which more than 60 people were killed, the attack which was claimed by Somalia’s militant al Shabaab group.

 Source: OnIslam