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Kenya's parliament will introduce a new anti-terrorism law in the coming weeks that seeks life-imprisonment for people involved in terrorist activities, Capital FM reported Sunday (June 24th).

The Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2012 was first introduced in 2003 and was later withdrawn after an uproar over some provisions criticised by some Muslim groups.

But chairman of the Association of Muslim Organisations Sheikh Athman Mponda said the organisation supports the new bill and rejected the notion that it was in any way anti-Muslim.

"We fully support the bill, we have gone through it and it has catered for all the interests. It is not discriminatory to the Muslim community," Mponda told reporters in Nairobi.

Mponda emphasised that religion has little to do with the ongoing violence in Somalia.

"We have heard of many young men travelling to Somalia to go fight what they are terming as the jihad war," he said. "Why should they engage in a war and claim they are joining a religious war? There is nowhere in the Qur'an where it is stated that someone should kill another person. The Qur'an is very clear and does not even allow anyone to kill him- or herself, so why should people engage in suicide bombing?"