A Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), has convicted six Nigerians for alleged funding Boko Haram insurgents with $782,000.
The appellate court upheld the conviction after losing an earlier appeal at a lower court. It was reported on Monday that two suspects, Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu were sentenced to life imprisonment; while four others, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdulRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa, were sentenced to ten-year imprisonment each.
Court documents revealed that between 2015 and 2016, the convicts were allegedly involved in cash transfers totaling $782,000.00 to Boko Haram terrorists.
The act was contrary to Article 29, Clause 3 of UAE’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Law No 7 of 2017.
In the development, the National Security Bureau said the investigation of the Nigerians “confirmed their involvement and membership of the Boko Haram”.
The accused were said to have been apprehended between April 16 and 17, 2017, and their homes searched according to the search warrant issued by the National Security Prosecution office dated April 16, 2017.
However, Abubakar and Adamu were charged for joining Boko Haram knowingly while Alhassan, Musa, Yusuf and Isa were charged with assisting the sect knowingly
This negates Article 22/2 of UAE’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Law No 7 of 2017 punishable by death or life imprisonment and the crime, under Article 31, Clause 1 of the same law, is punishable by life imprisonment or at least five years in jail.
The other, Alhaji Ashiru eho, is allegedly based in Nigeria, is said to be a senior undercover Boko Haram member responsible for facilitating the group’s access to funds from its sponsors.
Families of the convicts say they were “framed up”, considering that they had been doing legitimate bureau de change business in the UAE before their arrest.