Kenyan court rules NGOs not terror groups

A Kenyan court on Thursday restrained the government from declaring two Mombasa-based human rights organizations terror groups for lack of sufficient evidence.

However, the High Court in the coastal city of Mombasa ruled that bank accounts of the two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) , Haki Africa and Muslims for Human Rights, will still remain frozen since they had failed to cite financial regulators as respondents in the case.

The two NGOs were on an official list of alleged supporters of terrorism. The government in May froze their accounts, followed by protest letters to the British, United States and Norwegian governments, requiring them to stop funding Haki Africa.

The three Western governments asked Kenya to give evidence about Haki Africa's terror links.

Several local and international human rights groups have earlier voiced their support for the two NGOs and criticized Kenya's security agents.

Somalia-based Islamist group Al-Shabaab has carried out a series of attacks in Kenya since Kenyan troops entered Somalia in 2011 to combat the militants.

In early April, a siege by Al-Shabaab gunmen on Garissa University College killed nearly 150 people, mostly students. Endi