Source: The Star
Four women arrested by Kenya Defence Forces officers in Mandera while allegedly trying to leave the country to join Islamic State fighters in Syria have been denied bail by a Mombasa court.

The four university students popularly referred to as the "Al Shabaab brides" were reportedly nabbed in Elwak on their way to join the ISIS fighters on April 3.

Khadija Abdulkadir, Mariam Aboud, Halima Aden Ali and Ummulkhayr Abdulla (a Tanzanian national) will stay in custody pending the hearing and determination of their case.

Making his ruling, senior principal magistrate Richard Odenyo said it would not be wise for the court to consider releasing the four on bail at this moment.

He said the court had put into consideration the applications made by the prosecution against the four women who were arrested on their way to Somalia.

Odenyo said the circumstances surrounding the case were complex and the prosecution had promised to speed up the hearing of the case and had lined up five witnesses who are to testify in the case.

He further Argued that Ummulkhayr was not a Kenyan citizen since she was from Zanzibar which further complicated the issue of bail approval.

Earlier, while submitting an application to deny the four bail, the prosecution had informed the court the investigations had revealed the young women were en-route to join the international terror group ISIS in Syria.

The state prosecutor Eugene Wangila had said the diplomatic ties between Kenya and Syria would be jeopardized if the suspects manage to reach Syria while out on bail.

He further said that their release on bail would fuel terror activities in Kenya since they are alleged to have links with terror suspects in the East African region.

The case will be mentioned on June 12 for the fixing of a hearing date.

• Kenya