Osama US Trial to Feature in Kenyan Court

The United States trial of Osama bin Laden and 16 other al-Qaeda operatives will be used by a Kenyan court to determine whether an insurer should pay for damages caused by a terrorist attack.

Mr Justice Luka Kimaru on Tuesday ruled that Jubilee Insurance and Concord Insurance companies could attach copies of the US terror proceedings and judgments to their submissions in a case in which the owners of Pioneer House, which was destroyed by an al-Qaeda bomb in 1998 alongside the US embassy in Nairobi, have sued the two companies for failing to meet the damages.

The two insurance companies argued that the fact that the house was destroyed by a terrorist attack absolves them of any claim, but the Pioneer General Assurance Society, the owners of the building, say the insurers ought to pay for the loss.

The claimants on Tuesday asked that an official of the US court be called to testify in Nairobi, but the defendants, through Dinah Ogulla, the legal manager of Jubilee, argued that the judicial proceedings could be submitted in court without the physical presence of a US legal expert.

Mr Justice Kimaru ruled against flying in a witness, saying he was satisfied that there were court documents that, although different from Kenyan criminal proceedings, were still recognisable by Kenyan courts.

The hearing continues.