Four Somalis on charges relating to Westgate Mall massacre in Nairobi

From left to right: Adan Mohamed Ibrahim (alias Adan Abdikadir Adan), Mohamed Abdi Ahmed, Hussein Hassan and Liban Abdullah Omar appear for a hearing at a courtroom in Nairobi (EPA)

Four Somali nationals have been charged with offences related to September’s terrorist attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall which killed 67 people.

A court ordered the four men – Mohamed Ahmed Abdi, Liban Abdullah Omar, Hussein Hassan Mustafah, and Adan Dheq – to be held in custody until a court hearing next week.

Among the charges were harbouring a fugitive and illegally registering as a Kenyan. All four pleaded not guilty. The charges had to be read to the defendants in Somali by a translator. Authorities have detained dozens of people in the wake of the four-day mall siege, but had not said any of the suspects were directly involved in the attack. It’s unclear how many arrests have been made.

The Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in retaliation for Kenya’s deployment of troops in southern Somalia.

Mr Abdi, Mr Omar and Mr Mustafah were charged with knowingly supporting Mohammed Abdinur Said and Hassan Dhohullow and others identified as perpetrators of the attack. Mr Dheq was accusing of harbouring terror suspects.

AP