An Ethiopian man in Kenya was sentenced to four months in prison on Thursday for joking about a bomb after boarding a Kenya Airways flight, the BBC has learned.
Chifraye Bekele’s joke led to the cancellation of the Johannesburg-bound flight in April and to a three-hour shutdown of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the capital, Nairobi.
Magistrate Christine Njagi found him guilty of “imperilling the safety of aircraft and persons on board”.
According to the judgement, passed on to the BBC, Bekele had said to a flight attendant as she was closing an overhead locker: “Why are you scared? You think it’s a bomb?”
The flight attendant consulted her colleagues and also informed the captain, who decided to taxi back for the plane to be searched.
All the passengers had to disembark, resulting in the cancellation of the flight.
Bekele was taken into custody and has been in prison since then.
In court, testifying via a translator, he said he did not make the joke as he only spoke Amharic and not English.
But the magistrate sentenced him to four months in jail or a 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,000; £800) fine.
At the moment he cannot pay the fine, so remains in prison.
He is not the only traveller to have found a joke that crossed a line.
A British student nearly faced up to 15 years in jail in the US in 2004 for joking that she was carrying bombs - she was allowed to return home after agreeing to donate $1,000 to a 9/11 victims' fund and write a letter of apology.
In 2013 a man was briefly detained at JFK International Airport in New York after being overheard using the word "bomb" to a friend. It turned out he was just talking about a sandwich, known as “The Bomb”.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Tags:
Latest Stories
-
Salaga South MP advocates reparations to Africa
4 minutes -
Don’t celebrate yet, declined T-bill yields artificial – IPPA to Finance Minister
7 hours -
Hidden epidemics in Africa and power of serosurveillance
7 hours -
Policy rate hike came at a wrong time; government must be financially disciplined – IPPA
7 hours -
Telecel CEO calls for collaboration between academia and industry for nation-building
8 hours -
Telecel Enterprise Business Director advocates strengthened support for women entrepreneurs
8 hours -
Chamber of Licensed Gold Buyers hails enactment of GoldBod Act
8 hours -
Securing Rugby’s Future: Morocco welcomes 2025 international seminar on African Rugby Development
9 hours -
UHAS commits to advancing role of sports in public health and national dev’t
9 hours -
FixTheCountry to stage May 1 protest over gov’t inaction on illegal mining
10 hours -
Some film producers wanted to end my dreams – Yvonne Nelson
10 hours -
Daily Insight for CEOs: The CEO’s guide to financial leadership
10 hours -
China-Ghana Mining Association inaugurated to deepen bilateral collaboration
10 hours -
Gov’t to equip pre-tertiary schools with tech tools to boost STEM and AI education
11 hours -
Delta Air Lines champions women’s leadership in global trade
11 hours