Kenyan Staffer Arrested for al-Shabaab Plot Calls to Mind Convicted U.S. Brotherhood Operative

Kenyan police are holding longtime parliamentary staffer Ali Abdulmajid on suspicion of helping al-Shabaab, an Islamist terror group based in Somalia, plot attacks on parliament in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

According to Ndegwa Muhoro, Director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Abdulmajid was arrested on Sunday after an intelligence report from the Kenyan government linked him to the plot.

A letter from Central OCPD Paul Wanjama to Samson Chelugo, the officer in charge of Parliament’s Police Station, states that al-Shabaab “has dispatched Amniyat [al-Shabaab intelligence service with key role in foreign operations] spies to launch more high scale attacks in the country on unspecified dates.”

Parliament was one of the specific targets mentioned along with churches and the University of Nairobi. Furthermore, in an apparent reference to Abdulmajid, the police document said, “The group intends to use an operative, who is affiliated to Pumwani Riyadh Mosque (and) who is also a staff member at the Senate, to actualize the attack.”

Abdulmajid, who has been an employee with Parliament for almost ten years, has been the vice chairman of the Pumwani Riyadh Mosque Committee since 2009. Kenyan media reports that the mosque is a primary hub for terrorism in East Africa and the center of al-Shabaab’s support in Kenya.

It is also a haven for local jihadists. People at the mosque, for example, handed out pamphlets and articles penned by Anwar al-Awlaqi, the Yemeni-American al-Qaeda cleric who was killed by a United States drone in 2012.

In 2008, the Muslim Youth Center (MYC) was formed at the Pumwani Riyadh Mosque. Shaykh Ahmad Iman Ali created the group to supposedly illustrate the problems of impoverished Muslim youth, but in reality used the group to recruit hundreds of Kenyan Muslims to fight for al-Shabaab. MYC is now known as al-Hijra and is being funded by the Pumwani Riyadh Mosque; the two continue to coordinate to help al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda. According to a 2013 United Nations Security Council letter, the mosque views its assistance to al-Shabaab as a religious obligation.

Abdulmajid himself was connected to terror activities in the 2011 U.N. Monitoring Group on Eritrea and Somalia. Additionally, a 2013 U.N. letter shows that he “began to encourage and advise” the mosque on how to conceal its support of al-Shabaab through al-Hijra.

Al-Shabaab has declared jihad against Kenyan authorities and frequently launched terrorist attacks on the East African state since the beginning of this decade when Kenyan troops, as part of an African Union initiative, entered Somalia to fight the Islamists and train Somali soldiers.

The terror group has particularly targeted non-Muslims – like the recent gruesome massacre of 147 people at Garissa University where al-Shabaab jihadists separated the Christians to be killed – and wants to impose sharia law in Somalia and East Africa en route to a global caliphate.

While it is disturbing that a government employee with access to Kenyan’s lawmakers would be allegedly aiding such an organization, especially years after his terrorist ties were revealed by the U.N., this incident is not unique nor does it only exist in Kenya.

In the U.S., Abdurahman Alamoudi was a Muslim Brotherhood member, founder of the American Muslim Council, who gained influence advising U.S. politicians as prominent as Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. Alamoudi was also the founder of the Islamic Society of Boston, which is known for its ties to multiple convicted terrorists.  Alamoudi’s influence operation was facilitated through close ties to Conservative political lobbyist Grover Norquist. Alamoudi was also a senior al-Qaeda financier however, who was sentenced in 2004 to 23 years in prison for his part in a plot to assassinate then Saudi crown prince Abdullah.

While Ali Abdulmajid’s arrest may help foil future al-Shabaab attacks and save Kenyan lives, it shows the disturbing reality that Islamist groups are seeking to infiltrate government service, influence policymakers, conduct propaganda, and indoctrinate new members.

This incident raises questions about Kenyan security, but the problem is not confined to any one country because Islamists across the globe are engaged in the same process. Infiltrating government, indoctrinating the youth, and engaging in jihad are chronological steps that people like Abdulmajid and Alamoudi take. While the two men have (to the best of our knowledge) never met, both followed the same operational doctrine, and followed the same progression. Governments must recognize this fact, and break down false perceptions of political Islamists being separate from violent jihadists.