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Killers of 148 Garissa University students handed tough sentences


Three men who were convicted of killing 148 people in a terrorist attack inside Garissa University have been handed tough sentences.

One of the convicts Rashid Charles Mberesero has been sentenced to life imprisonment while Mohammed Abikar and Hassan Edin Hassan have been sentenced to 41 years in jail.

The three have been sentenced on three offences which are conspiracy to commit  a terrorism act, committing a terrorism act and being a member of a terrorist group.

Mohamed and Hassan are to serve 15 years each for the offence of conspiracy to commit a terrorism act.

They are to serve 25 years in jail for the offence of committing a terrorism act. These two sentences will be served concurrently.

For the third offence of being a member of a terrorist group, they are to serve for 20 years, which will be served after finishing the sentences for the first two offences.

But since they have been in custody for 4-and-a-half years, Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi has ruled that they will now serve a total of 41 years in jail.

Rashid, a Tanzanian, was handed a life sentence for conspiring to commit a terrorism act.

The Magistrate put in abeyance the sentence for the two other offences considering that he would be spending his lifetime in prison.