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Kenya court dismisses case against Somali Christian

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Somali Christian who was falsely charged in 2019 with selling hard drugs, and whose bail was paid by International Christian Concern (ICC), had his case dismissed by a court in Kenya last month, ICC reports.

Hassan Hussein, the eldest child in a family of 10 former Somali Muslims, had been accused of selling hard drugs, and of being part of a terrorist group, by Kenyan Muslims who collaborated with police to beat him up and have him arrested, ICC said. Hassan’s family had converted to Christianity in 2008, a situation that caused friction between them and their relatives and Muslim neighbors.

International Christian Concern stepped in to help Hussein after learning that he had been accused, charged, and imprisoned in February 2019. “We began by visiting him in jail on February 2, 2019, and finally paying the bail on April 25,” ICC said in their report. “Somali Christians in Kenya routinely face hatred, threats, and harassment from the Muslims once they leave Islam and become Christians, even to the extent of being kidnapped and killed,” ICC added.

After a number of hearings, the court decided on October 25 that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Hussein, ICC reports. “Although at first, I had told the court that I was being persecuted for becoming a Christian, they did not believe it for I could not show evidence of such an abstract claim, but today, they all acknowledged that my God is great,” Hussein said in a statement to ICC.

Hussein has said he will not press charges against those who persecuted him:” I will leave the matter to rest and pray that they also come to Jesus for their salvation. Let them know that I have forgiven them and that God can forgive them through Christ Jesus,” he told ICC. The family has asked for continued prayer as Muslims continue to pursue them, and also that these persecutors would turn to Jesus.