Independence Day Bombing: Henry Okah Jailed For 24 Years

Henry Okah

As reported by Sahara Reporters;

Johannesburg - Nigerian Henry Okah was jailed for 24 years by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

"Effectively, the accused [Okah] is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment," Judge Neels Claassen said as he handed down sentence.

On 21 January, Okah was found guilty on 13 counts of terrorism, including engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, and delivering, placing, and detonating an explosive device.

Car bombs

The charges related to two car bombs in Abuja, Nigeria, in which 12 people were killed and 36 injured on 1 October 2010, the anniversary of the country's independence.

The second bombing took place in Warri on 15 March 2010 at a post amnesty dialogue meeting. One person was killed and 11 seriously injured.

In both bombings, two car bombs went off minutes apart in both places. The cars were parked in close proximity to each other.

Claassen sentenced Okah to 12 years imprisonment for each of the bombings and 13 years for the threats made to the South African government after his arrest in October 2010.

The 13 years would run concurrently with the 24 years.

In January, during judgment Claassen said the State had proved Okah's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and his failure to testify meant the evidence against him remained uncontested.

Okah has denied any involvement, claiming the charges against him were politically motivated.

- SAPA

Henry Okah: South African Court Convicts Nigeria Rebel -BBC

Henry Okah

Culled from BCC

A South African court has found Nigerian militant leader Henry Okah guilty of masterminding the 2010 car bombing which killed 12 people.

Okah was convicted of 13 counts related to acts of terrorism.

He was arrested in Johannesburg a day after two car bombs exploded during the 50th anniversary of Nigeria's independence.

He had denied the charges, even though his militant group, Mend, said it had carried out the attack.

Johannesburg High Court Judge Neels Claassen convicted Okah on charges ranging from conspiracy to commit terrorism to detonating explosives.

"I have come to the conclusion that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused," Judge Claassen said, AFP news agency reports.

Okah was arrested on gun-running charges in Angola in 2007 and then transferred to Nigeria but never convicted.

He was released after two years under an amnesty for oil militants and he returned to South Africa, where he had lived since 2003.

Mend says it is fighting so that more of Nigeria's massive oil wealth is used to benefit the Niger Delta area which produces the oil.

But criminal gangs have taken advantage of the region's instability to make money from ransoms paid by oil companies, and by stealing oil.

The violence subsided significantly after the government offered militants an amnesty in 2009.

At its peak, the instability in the Niger Delta cost Nigeria about $1bn (£630m) in loss revenue, Reuters news agency quotes the central bank as saying.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, but most of its people live in poverty.