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Two Somalia citizens accused of desecrating Kenyan flag detained for four more days
The entrance to the Gigiri Police Station in this picture taken on January 9, 2022.
Two underage children from Somalia who were arrested for allegedly desecrating the Kenyan flag will remain in police custody for four days for interrogation and age assessment.
The two boys aged 14 and 17 will be detained at the Child Protection Unit (CPU) at the Gigiri Police Station, Nairobi, until October 4, 2025, when they will be returned to the Milimani Childrens’ Court for further directions.
The orders to detain them were issued by a magistrate who directed their ages be ascertained by a government doctor.
The magistrate directed a juvenile report about the two boys from the Somalia Republic be presented by the Children’s Bureau Office (CBO) to the court before they can be called upon to answer the serious charges filed against them by the director of public prosecutions.
“These two children will be remanded at the Gigiri Police Station Child Protection Unit (CPU) until October 4, 2025,” the trial magistrate directed.
The court deferred plea-taking until a CBO report is available as to how they are related and what they had come to do in Kenya.
A screengrab of the moment that got a teen in trouble. He is accused of desecrating the Kenyan flag at Nyayo Stadium during a football match between Mogadishu City Club and Police FC.
Besides the report, the magistrate further directed the passports of the two minors be kept by the courts administrator pending the determination of the case filed against them.
“Pending the age-assessment and a juvenile report the two suspects will be held at Gigiri Police Stations CPU for four days,” the magistrate ruled.
The orders were made following a request by a prosecuting counsel that the “true ages of the two suspects had not been availed from the Eastleigh Children’s Office, Nairobi.”
The prosecutor also asked the magistrate to call for a juvenile report describing how the two suspects relate and why they had come to Kenya.
Lawyer Ishmael Nyaribo for the two minors said: “They are innocent as they were just playing football and had no ill motive in desecrating the flag.”
Mr Nyaribo said the issue should not bring about a diplomatic tiff between the two neighbours.
The lawyer told the court the children were in Kenya to visit cross-border relatives.
“This matter should not have been escalated this much as the children should have been taken to the Children's office and explained the meaning of the Kenyan flag,” Mr Nyaribo told the magistrate.
“Are the Kenyan relatives of the suspects in court?” the magistrate asked Mr Nyaribo.
“Yes, the aunties and uncles of the two are in court,” he answered.
Asked further by the magistrate whether the two were brothers, the lawyer said they were distant relatives back in Somalia.
Arising from these responses, Mr Nyaribo and the prosecuting counsel agreed that the two suspects be remanded for interview by the CBO and the juvenile office.
Further, the lawyer agreed that the ages of the two be assessed by a Kenyan medical doctor as they did not provide documents to prove their ages.
Mr Nyaribo opposed a plea by the prosecutor to remand the children at Kamiti Maximum Prison, saying they require a social inquiry report.
“I do not oppose the deferment of the plea so that the State can have time to get the relevant information about the children,” Mr Nyaribo stated.
The defense lawyer said it would not augur well to send minors to a high detention security camp and pleaded with the court to allow their aunties and uncles to deposit sureties to court as an undertaking to bring them to face justice after the preliminary reports are done.
He even asked the court to be more lenient and even directed the two to be taken to a Mosque.
While at the Gigiriu CPU, the magistrate allowed their relatives and lawyer to visit them.
The two suspects, who were not allowed to answer the charges against them, will be returned to court on October 4, 2025, for further directions.
