Kenya: Muslim Cleric Jailed 10 Years for Child Sex Trafficking

July 8, 2015

A Muslim cleric convicted of sex tourism has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Sheikh Ali Samoja was found guilty of transporting a 15-year-old girl from Nakuru to Nairobi where she was handed over to a Lebanese national who defiled her repeatedly.

A warrant of arrest for the Lebanese man, Sayyid Murtadha, who has gone into hiding, was issued in 2011

The girl’s parents told the court that Samoja approached them with the offer of taking her to a special Muslim school in Lebanon. The cleric first approached the family in July 2012, saying three spots for Muslim girls to study in Lebanon were available, the girl’s father said. He said Samoja informed them that their daughter had been picked alongside two other girls from Nairobi.

The girl’s father said Samoja offered to pay her travel expenses and that he arranged travel to Nairobi.

The cleric called a few weeks later saying the girl had fallen sick and could not travel to Lebanon, he told the court.

He said she was taken back to Nakuru where she resumed her madrassa studies at Bilal education centre, headed by Samoja. The girl’s father said she seemed weak when she returned home. “I came to know about her ordeal in Nairobi, in the hands of Samoja and Murtadha, after the school called me saying that she had tried to commit suicide. I rushed there and she told me the truth,” he said.

The parents told the court that they were determined to pursue justice despite pressure to resolve the matter out of court under Islamic law. The girl’s mother added that Samoja had approached her several times seeking to settle the case “the Muslim way”.

Samoja denied the accusations saying he was being victimised for trying to help the girl and her family. . . adding that Muslims do not commit such sexual offences and perverts exist in both churches and mosques.

Samoja could have been among criminals subjecting Kenyan girls to sex slavery in foreign countries, Nakuru senior resident magistrate Judicaster Nthuku said in her ruling. She cited media reports of travel agencies that process documents for girls to travel to Arab countries where they are sold into slavery and sometimes killed.