An Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has convicted six Nigerians for alleged funding of Boko Haram, according to Daily Trust.
The conviction was upheld by the appellate court after they lost an earlier appeal at a lower court.
Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu were sentenced to life imprisonment, while Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa, got 10-year jail sentences each.
Court documents show that between 2015 and 2016, the convicts were allegedly involved in cash transfers totaling $782,000.00 to Boko Haram.
The act was contrary to Article 29, Clause 3 of UAE’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Law No 7 of 2017.
National Security Bureau said the investigation of the Nigerians “confirmed their involvement and membership of the Boko Haram”.
They were arrested between April 16 and 17, 2017, and their homes searched according to the search warrant issued by the National Security Prosecution office dated April 16, 2017.
Abubakar and Adamu were charged for joining Boko Haram knowingly.
This negates Article 22/2 of UAE’s Federal Anti-Terrorism Law No 7 of 2017 punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Alhassan, Musa, Yusuf, and Isa were charged with assisting the sect knowingly.
The crime, under Article 31, Clause 1 of the same law, is punishable by life imprisonment or at least five years in jail.
Most of the transactions were facilitated by two undercover Boko Haram agents based in Nigeria. One of them is “Alhaji Sa’idu”.
The other “Alhaji Ashiru” was described as “a Nigerian government official”. He also reportedly funneled misappropriated public funds to terrorists.