By Wangui Kanina
Nairobi - A Kenyan judge on Thursday acquitted four men charged in the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel that killed 15 people, saying prosecutors had failed to link them to the bombers or al-Qaeda.
Kenya High Court Justice John Osiemo said the lack of evidence was such that prosecutors should not have accused the four, who faced 15 counts of murder.
"The prosecution has not established that the four accused persons were at the scene of the murder, nor that they had met the two suicide bombers and there was a pre-arranged plan between them and the suicide bombers," Osiemo said.
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Three Israelis and 12 Kenyans were killed after two suicide bombers broke through barriers outside the Paradise Hotel with a four-wheel drive vehicle packed full of explosives on November 28, 2002.
At almost the same time, a missile was fired but missed an Israeli airliner leaving the airport in the nearby Kenyan resort town of Mombasa. Three others have been charged with conspiracy in that case and a ruling is expected later this month.
So far, no one has been convicted in either case, the most high-profile terror cases in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the United States embassy in Nairobi.
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, which is also blamed for the embassy blast, claimed responsibility for the missile attack and bombing at the hotel, a popular destination for Israeli package tourists in Kikambala, north of Mombasa.
Osiemo said there was no evidence connecting the defendants to al-Qaeda, save calls between their mobile phones and that of a still-wanted suspect believed to be a top al-Qaeda member in Kenya.
The four Kenyans thrust their fists into the air, their wives burst into tears of joy and shouts of "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) filled the courtroom after Osiemo told them they were to be freed. One defendant wept.
The defendants, Mohamed Ali Saleh Nabhan, Omar Said Omar, Mohammed Kubwa and Aboud Rogo Mohammed, had denied the charges.
"For two years, my father has been tortured. But now he is out and I am a little bit happy. But, inshallah (God willing) God will avenge them," Saidi, Rogo's 10-year-old son, told Reuters.
The men plan to sue the government for their long incarceration on the grounds it was unjustified, defence lawyer Amos Ngaira said outside the court.
Rights groups have criticised the government for the lengthy trial proceedings, saying delays violated the defendants' rights.
They also have accused Kenyan and foreign security officers of torturing and abusing suspects during the initial investigation, a charge the government rejects.
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