Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Tuesday ahead of a landmark appearance before the International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity.

"He has arrived in the Netherlands," his spokesman Manoah Esipisu told AFP shortly after 4:00 pm (0200 GMT).

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta flew out of Kenya Tuesday to attend a hearing at the International Criminal Court, where he will become the first sitting president to appear before the chamber.

Kenyatta, who has temporarily handed power to his deputy to "protect the sovereignty" of the east African country, waved to supporters at the airport in Nairobi in a relatively low-key early morning departure, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Monday he will go to the International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity, becoming the first sitting president to appear.

But the son of Kenya's first president and independence hero Jomo Kenyatta he said he would first temporarily hand over power to his deputy to "protect the sovereignty" of the east African country.

Kenyan authorities said Wednesday that they would close down Islamic schools or madrassas teaching radical doctrines, in a bid to combat terrorism.

At least one madrassa in Machakos, 60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of the capital Nairobi, has already been shut down after 30 youths were detained on suspicion of being recruited to join Somalia's Al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels.

The trial of four men charged in connection with Kenya's Westgate mall massacre was hit Tuesday by allegations from defense lawyers that the suspects have been assaulted in detention.

The complaints came as the slow-moving trial was again adjourned, with the magistrate out of the country attending a seminar.

Two Iranians arrested in Kenya last week with fake Israeli passports appeared in a Nairobi court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to being in possession of forged documents.

The accused, identified as Hesamoddin Hatami alias Avsalom Tsabari and Zahra Kolabian, alias Adi Larian, told the court that they were attempting to seek asylum.

Kenyan police said on Monday that two Iranians arrested in Nairobi last week carrying fake Israeli passports are being treated as illegal migrants.

"They will be charged by the immigration authorities for being in the possession of forged passports," John Mulaulu, acting head of the anti-terrorism police unit, told AFP.

Authorities in Kenya said Friday they have arrested two men believed to be Iranian nationals transiting through the east African nation on fake passports.

A counter-terrorism officer told AFP the pair were detained on Thursday at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, but that it was not yet established if the pair should be treated as terrorism suspects or illegal migrants.

The International Criminal Court said Friday it had summoned Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to appear before the tribunal over charges his government has withheld documents requested by prosecutors preparing his crimes against humanity trial.

Kenyatta, who faces five counts at the ICC over his alleged role in masterminding election-related violence in 2007-2008, was ordered to appear on October 8, the Hague-based court said in a statement.

Mass arrests, extortion, deportation and suspicion: one year since Somali gunmen staged a four-day massacre in Nairobi's Westgate mall, Somalis in Kenya say the attack has left their community battling harassment and denigration.