
Kenyan court sentences men for aiding al-Shabab militants in 2019 hotel attack
The court heard that Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali, both Kenyans, sent money and helped acquire fake identification documents for the militants, who died during the attack on the DusitD2 complex.
Al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, based in neighbouring Somalia, claimed responsibility for the daytime attack, one of its deadliest inside Kenya.
Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali sat in the dock at a Nairobi court (Andrew Kasuku/AP)
It occurred six years after an attack killed 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall and four years after an attack killed 147 students at Garissa University in northern Kenya.
Al-Shabab has vowed retribution against Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight it since 2011, and continues to stage attacks in Somalia and Kenya.
Judge Diana Kavedza during her sentencing said the judgment spoke for the survivors who deserve closure.
She noted 'one of the most comprehensive counterterrorism investigations in Kenya's history, as law enforcement agencies pursued not only the attackers' immediate associates but also financiers, facilitators and logistical co-ordinators who enabled the attack'.
Foreign nationals, including an American and a Briton, were among those killed in the 2019 attack.
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Western Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Western Telegraph
Zelensky to visit UK ahead of Nato summit as Russian bombardment continues
The Ukrainian president said he expected to discuss his country's defences and new ways to increase pressure on Russia ahead of a Nato summit that starts on Tuesday. His arrival in the UK follows reports that Russia fired 352 drones and 16 missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing at least 10 civilians including even in Kyiv. Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian strike in Kyiv (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/PA) Mr Zelensky said preliminary reports indicated Russia had used North Korean missiles to attack Kyiv and described those two countries, and Iran, as a 'coalition of murderers'. His visit to London comes the day before Nato leaders are set to meet in The Hague for a two-day summit, with increased defence spending top of the agenda. Mr Zelensky has been invited to the summit but will not take part in its main discussions, and it is still unclear whether he will attend at all.


Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
‘Gone Girl' kidnap hoaxer Sherri Papini now claims she really WAS abducted by ex & didn't tell cops truth for key reason
SHERRI Papini went for her usual morning jog after dropping the kids at school, but when her husband came home from work to find that she still wasn't home, panic set in. Keith Papini quickly took measures to find the 34-year-old mum of two, tracing her phone to her last location and driving straight there, but his panic soon turned to horror when he found her phone lying on the side of the road. 7 Sherri Papini was kidnapped while ona run in 2016 7 Local residents and church groups came out in their hundreds to bring her home Credit: Social Media - Refer to Source 7 Her husband begged for the mum to come home and apologised for not being able to find her Credit: AP It was November 2nd, 2016, in California, and Keith, who was the prime suspect in her disappearance at the time for police, was doing the media rounds begging for his wife's return to him and their two children. 'If she is listening, I want to say, 'We are trying. We are trying the best we can, and I am sorry I'm not there,' he said in a tearful interview. 'I'm doing everything I can, and I love you.' News of the disappearance dominated the news across the world, as hundreds of local residents took time out of their lives to find the mum and bring her home. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving, Sherri was miraculously discovered 150 miles away from her home running across a church car park with a chain around her waist. Her hands were zip-tied together, her body was bruised and burned, her nose was broken, and she had been branded with a hot iron. Sherri spent weeks with police going over the details of her kidnapping, claiming two Hispanic women had taken her and put her in a small dark room, beating her and starving her until the abductors had an argument and one decided to release Sherri. Her memory was foggy, and the trauma she endured seemed severe, as she recounted the incident to police, her husband stood by her every step of the way. Sherri claimed to have overheard a conversation about a 'buyer', implying the two women intended to sell her into sex trafficking. It seemed like a miracle that Sherri was let go, considering the extent of the abuse she endured, and law enforcement was quick to hunt for the perpetrators as they feared it was part of a larger pattern of human trafficking. 7 Sherri was eventually found in a car park with a broken nose and letters branded into her skin Credit: Facebook Sherri Papini admits she's 'embarrassed' she staged kidnapping during tearful police interrogation 7 She spend two years telling the police of her abduction, but it all turned out to be a lie Credit: ABC Web of lies But after years of dead ends, the two women were never caught, in fact, they never even existed. Now, 42, Sherri has been dubbed the real life 'Gone Girl' after faking her own kidnapping to run away with her ex-partner. In 2020 police found DNA on her clothes that matched with her ex James Reyes. She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that. Keith Papini When they tracked him down, he was quick to reveal that Sherri had asked him to pick her up at a staged abduction site, then to take her back to his home in Costa Mesa, hundreds of miles down the coast. She'd even asked him to help her injure herself to bolster her kidnapping claims by branding her and holding a hockey stick up so she could run into it and break her nose. Sherri's 'Gone Girl' Timeline 2 November 2016: Sherri Papini was reported missing after failing to return from a jog near her home in Mountain Gate, California. She also missed picking up her children from daycare. Sherri Papini was reported missing after failing to return from a jog near her home in Mountain Gate, California. She also missed picking up her children from daycare. 24 November 2016 (Thanksgiving Day): Papini was found around 146 miles away in Yolo County, near Woodland, California. She was discovered with injuries and restraints, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. Papini was found around 146 miles away in Yolo County, near Woodland, California. She was discovered with injuries and restraints, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. August 2020: Papini was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff's detective, where she continued to maintain her story of being kidnapped by two Hispanic women. Papini was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff's detective, where she continued to maintain her story of being kidnapped by two Hispanic women. 3 March 2022: Sherri Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement and mail fraud. Authorities revealed she had been staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, California, and had inflicted injuries on herself. Sherri Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement and mail fraud. Authorities revealed she had been staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, California, and had inflicted injuries on herself. April 2022: Papini signed a plea agreement. Papini signed a plea agreement. 19 September 2022: Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution. Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution. 8 November 2022: Papini reported to federal prison at the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex in Adelanto, California, to begin serving her 18-month sentence. James was never tried for a connection to the crime and three weeks after he 'kidnapped' Sherri, she wanted to return home as she missed her kids. Before dropping her off, Sherri asked him to brand her with the word 'EXODUS' using a wood burning tool. Looking back, Keith reveals the heartbreak he felt when his wife Sherri came home, telling him, 'I have to live with the fact that you never found me.' 'I remember I was pleading with her,' Keith says now. 'Like, 'I did everything I could, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.'' 'She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that.' Sherri was ultimately charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements in 2022, and spent ten months in jail. Her husband, Keith, divorced her soon after she was sentenced and has custody of the children. 7 This is the moment police told Sherri they knew she had lied about the entire ordeal Credit: The Mega Agency Bold new claims Now, Sherri has claimed all is not as it seems in a new Investigation Discovery's docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. "Haven't you ever lied? And then, has the lie been blown up?" Sherri said in the trailer. "I went missing in 2016, was gone for 22 days. I was tortured; I was branded; I was chained to a wall. All that is true. I did keep some secrets from you, though." Now, the mum-of-two claims she was in fact kidnapped by her lover James Reyes but made up the two Hispanic women as she was terrified about what her husband would do if he found out about the affair. "I was concealing an affair from my husband, who (was) threatening to take everything from me if he found out that I was having any involvement with another man," she said. Now she claims she went to meet James to break things off, but alleges he soon turned violent. "I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open," she said. She claims the next thing she knew it was dark and she was being carried out of the car into a house. "I just remember thinking, 'This is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be picking my kids up from day care. I am not supposed to be here,'" she adds. "The injuries that occurred… the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin — I am telling you there was no consent." Sherri alleges that James then had her chained up to a pole inside his home so she could not escape. 'I wanted to leave,' Sherri claimed. 'So I tried to pull one of the boards off the window and James came in and hit me in the face. And that's the first bruise that I got ... And after being knocked out and waking up, that's when the chain was around my waist, secured with a padlock attached to a cable that was attached to a pole in the closet.' Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie. Sherri Papini Just before she 'escaped,' Sherri says she had a conversation with James, who agreed to let her go on the condition she lied about what really happened and blamed two Hispanic women for the abduction. Her claims continued: 'James had let me off the chain. "I said, my husband's going to find me. He's never going to stop looking for you ... You need to let me go. He was like, 'Well, there's too much has happened.' "So it all came down to me. It all came down to my cover-up, and that's [when] I agreed to ... make up that someone else did it.' "I lied about James' identity. I lied about the man who abducted me to keep him a secret," she said in the docuseries. James denies these claims. "It wasn't the right choice and I know that... I wish I would've told the truth from the day I was in the hospital — that it was James," she continued. 7 Now, she shares her side of the story and says it's not all as it seems Credit: YouTube/investigationdiscovery "I wasn't thinking about my neighbor that was searching for me. I wasn't thinking about the churches that were lighting candlelit vigils," she continued. "I was thinking about myself." "Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie," she adds. Mother knows best? Keith, who has full custody of the children they share, was accused by Sherri throughout the show of being abusive; he heavily denies these claims. And it seems even Sherri's own mum doesn't believe her new story. Speaking to the filmmakers, Loretta Graeff said: "No, it wasn't a kidnapping." "My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage. She wanted some kind of happiness. "When he showed up and Sherri went with him, it wasn't a kidnapping, it was more 'I want to have a little bit of happiness in my life because it's been very, very hard.'" "She needed to get away from him and she didn't abandon her children," Graeff told People. Where is Sherri now? Sherri was released from prison in August 2023 and transferred to a residential reentry facility in Sacramento County, California. She left the home that October — eight months early — and will remain on supervised release until late 2026.


Daily Record
5 hours ago
- Daily Record
'Most hated' UK woman who bought US babies for £8k has 'no regrets'
Judith Kilshaw and her then-husband paid over £8,000 to adopt a pair of six-month-old twins from the United States,. A woman who was branded one of Britain's 'most hated' after her part in a transatlantic baby-buying scandal, says she still dreams of seeing the twin girls she brought to the UK. Judith Kilshaw and her then-husband paid over £8,000 to adopt a pair of six-month-old twins from the United States, despite the girls already being promised to another couple. Dubbed the "cash-for-babies" scandal, Judith and her-then-husband Alan caused intense outrage after taking the children from Missouri to Wales, only for social services to intervene just weeks later and send them straight back to the US, The Mirror reports. The retired cleaner, 71, though admits she has "no regrets" about the incident that brought her to global infamy. "It's haunted me for years," she said, speaking to the Mail from her home in Wrexham. "But I've never believed I did anything wrong, I just wanted to give them a better life." The notorious incident began when Judith, unable to conceive even after rounds of IVF treatment, turned to an American adoption agency out of desperation. She and her former husband, who was a solicitor, paid $14000 for the two girls, Kiara and Keyara, who were later renamed Belinda and Kimberley. What they did not know was that the unfortunate twins had already been living with a Californian couple, Richard and Vickie Allen, who had begun their own adoption process. In a shocking twist in an already astounding international "baby buying" scandal, the twins' birth mother handed the children over to the Kilshaws during a supposed "farewell visit" from their new Californian family. This move sparked a legal tug of war between the purchasing parents. The couple drove the girls across several US states to secure papers that would allow them to take them back to the UK. But they had barely got off the plane before the outcry began at all levels. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Prime Minister Tony Blair called the deal"repugnant" and the courts quickly move to annul the adoption. Within months, the children were taken from the Kilshaws and returned to America. The fallout was intense and prolonged, Judith and Alan lost their farmhouse, became riddles with debt and eventually, their marriage fell apart as well. "We were just ordinary people caught up in something bigger than us," Judith reflected, 24 years later. She would go on to marry Stephen Sillett, a musician 13 years younger than her. Remarkably, at her wedding, it was none other than ex-husband Alan that gave her away. However, this relationship too would eventually break after Judith made headlines again in 2012 when she admitted to hitting Stephen with a Christmas decoration in a holiday row. They are now separated due to the cost of divorce proceedings, but remain friends. Following Alan's death in 2019, Judith said her husband's final wish was for her to try to reconnect with the girls. "He always saw them as ours," she told the Mail, "he never stopped loving them." In the time since the scandal, Judith has lived a quiet life, though she admits the story never quite disappeared. She's even been recognised while out shopping by random strangers who remember her frontpage infamy. In 2018, Judith finally learned information about the two girls she had flown across the Atlantic, discovering that they were raised by a churchgoing family. "I've never had the chance to explain my side to them," she said. "If they ever want to talk, I'll be here."