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A Rwandan high court on Friday sentenced 13 people to five years in jail and another two to ten years in jail, after convicting them for belonging to extremist groups, including Al Shabaab and the Islamic State. , and give them support.
The court in the Nyanza region of southern Rwanda has acquitted 25 others, as the prosecution has not proved their involvement in extremist acts.
Police in this Central African country arrested 40 people in January 2016, less than a week after killing Muhammad Mugemangango, a preacher accused of encouraging youths to join extremist groups. Security personnel also seized jihadist materials such as books, CDs and social media messages.
One of the convicts, Salim Fundi, participated in "the coordination in Rwanda of people wishing to join the terrorist group Al Shabaab in Somalia," said Judge Eugene Ndagijimana when the decision was made.
Among the convicts were three women, two of them arrested at the Kigali airport as they were heading for Syria and another convicted of helping them with US $ 1,000 for airplane tickets.
Most Rwandans are Christians, Muslims make up about 2.5% of the population.
After the death of Mugemangango, the country's main Muslim group, Rwandan Muslims, announced its intention to broadcast messages condemning radicalization in all mosques in Rwanda.
"This case is a reminder that we should tell our young people to pay attention … to those who seduce them after promising to give them better things," said the Mufti of the Muslim community of Rwanda, Sheikh Salim Hitimana.
Al Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the Somali central government and establish its own government based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law, while the Islamic State once aspired to establish a caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
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