21st January, 2013
A South African court on Monday convicted Nigerian Henry Okah of 13 terrorism charges, including bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on independence day 2010. He faces a minimum term of life in prison when the court sentences him by February 1.
“I have come to the conclusion that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused,” said Judge Nels Claassen, handing down the verdict in the South Gauteng High Court.
Okah was found guilty of masterminding attacks including twin car bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010 and two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, a major hub of the oil-rich Delta region.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a group fighting for a greater share of the Delta oil wealth, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Okah denied involvement in the blasts and said the charges were politically motivated.
He also denied leading MEND, but had said he sympathised with their goals.
However the South African court found Okah was the leader of the movement after uncovering documentary evidence including his wife’s handwritten notes.
Okah, 46, is thought to be the first foreign national to be tried for terrorism in South Africa.
South Africa said it arrested and tried him as a signatory to international laws on terrorism as well as on the back of a UN resolution urging nations to prevent and suppress acts of terrorism.
Okah holds permanent residence in South Africa, but is known to have travelled back and forth between the two countries.
“An international terrorist was successfully prosecuted in South Africa,” said prosecutor Shaun Abrahams.
“We feel vindicated that justice has been done. We simultaneously feel this is a test case in the history of our law.”
Legal sources said Okah is unlikely to be extradited to his native Nigeria where chances are high he would face a death sentence.
A marine engineer by training, Okah was granted permanent residence in South Africa in 2007 based on his ability to run his own business here.
In 2007, he was arrested in Angola for arms and explosives trafficking.
A year later, he was extradited to Nigeria to face treason and gun-running charges.
In 2009, Okah was freed from a jail in the central Nigerian city of Jos where he claimed poisonous snakes had been released into his cell.
His release came in the wake of an amnesty deal offered by the government to thousands of Delta militants.
The court said he then left for South Africa, but returned to Nigeria in early 2010, sponsoring the purchase of cars which were modified to allow the fitting of explosive devices.
Months later the cars were used to bomb independence day festivities that were attended by several foreign heads of state, including South African President Jacob Zuma.
Okah was convicted of threatening to disrupt South African businesses in Nigeria, including kidnapping its workers. He was also accused of being a spokesman for MEND.
Nigerian police have described him as “an international gun-runner and a major oil bunkerer (thief) in the Niger Delta.”
Around 30 witnesses were flown in from Nigeria to testify in the case, including the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godsday Orubebe.
.This story was updated 18.25 Nigerian time.