Kenyan court orders extradition of ex-Afghan deputy speaker wanted in US for drug trafficking
Abdul, who served as deputy speaker in a previous Afghan government, was arrested at a hotel in Nairobi on April 14, after allegedly travelling to Kenya for business purposes.
A Kenyan court has ordered the extradition of a former Afghan deputy speaker who is wanted in the United States for alleged drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms.
In a ruling delivered by Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Benmark Ekhubi, the court found that the application for the extradition of Abdul Zahir Qadir, a former member of Afghanistan's parliament, was merited.
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The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), through Senior State Counsel Victor Juma Owiti, submitted that the offences Abdul is facing are extraditable, and that there were no legal restrictions preventing the extradition.
The magistrate ruled that the prosecution had met the required threshold to initiate extradition proceedings against the fugitive.
“In my perspective and view, I find that the threshold has been met by the applicant. I find the application to be merited, so I will endorse the warrants of arrest and subsequently direct that the accused person be surrendered and extradited to the United States to face the subject charges,” said Magistrate Ekhubi.
The DPP further told the court that the accused would have an opportunity to defend himself before a US District Court, and urged the court to issue an order for his surrender and extradition.
Abdul, who served as deputy speaker in a previous Afghan government, was arrested at a hotel in Nairobi on April 14, after allegedly travelling to Kenya for business purposes.
He opposed the extradition, arguing that the request was politically motivated and rooted in his long-standing opposition to what he described as the US ideological imposition on Afghan nationals.
Through his lawyer, Abdul asked the court to take judicial notice of the historical tensions between Afghanistan and the United States.
“This case is a clear depiction of the tug-of-war at play within the geopolitical conflict between the two nations. Kenya has merely been selected as one of the battlegrounds in this broader war, and if the matter is loosely handled, Kenya may find itself caught in the crossfire,” his lawyer submitted.
Following the ruling, Abdul’s lawyer applied for a stay of execution to allow time for an appeal, but the magistrate declined, stating that the accused could still appeal without a stay.
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