Amnesty International (AI), the British-based human rights watchdog, has accused Kenyan authorities of violating the rights of terror suspects in the East African country — and called for an immediate end to these alleged abuses.
“We do not support terrorism. However, measures to prevent terrorism can only be effective if they also guarantee and protect human rights. Security and human rights go hand in hand, and are not alternative options,” said Sheila Keetharuth, a researcher on Kenyan issues for AI.
She was speaking on Wednesday at the launch of a report by the organisation entitled Kenya: The Impact of “Anti-Terrorism” Operations on Human Rights.
The document contains the findings of research conducted by AI into anti-terrorism initiatives embarked on after a 2002 suicide bomb attack near the coastal resort of Mombasa.
This incident, which took place at an Israeli-owned hotel, resulted in 16 deaths and more than 80 injuries. Almost simultaneously, a failed missile attack was staged on an Israeli airliner carrying about 200 passengers as it left Mombasa.
Hundreds of people have since been arrested in the resort, seven of whom face trial.
AI alleges extensive rights violations against persons suspected of involvement in the attack, such as arbitrary arrests and torture. Certain suspects were apparently detained without charge and held incommunicado during this time.
AI also claims the family members of terror suspects were harassed in a bid to force suspects to surrender to Kenyan officials — or to extract information from the relatives.
“During interrogation, they told me that if I did not speak the truth they would beat me up. All they wanted to know was where my husband was, and I did not know,” the wife of a suspect is quoted as saying in the report.
“At a certain moment, they actually started beating me with wooden sticks on my legs, my knees and the soles of my feet. A woman police officer carried out the beating. The next day I could not walk and had fever. I asked to be brought to hospital but they refused to take me.”
In addition, police are accused of failing to show warrants when arresting suspects or conducting property searches. They have allegedly held prisoners in secret locations — and under unsanitary conditions.
AI says Kenya’s 2003 Suppression of Terrorism Bill has created a climate within which abuses can flourish, and it has called for further review of the law.
A campaign by civil society to have contentious sections of the Bill amended has already prompted an initial review by the government-appointed Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the Kenya Law Reform Commission.
“We have looked at the clauses of the Bill one by one. It tends to give immunity to law enforcement officers if [they are] found guilty of human rights violations. This means legalising impunity, killings and torture,” Keetharuth noted.
“The bill is draconian,” adds Njuguna Mutahi, coordinator of the Nairobi-based People against Torture lobby group. “It goes to the extent of freezing people’s accounts on allegations of being terror suspects. In addition, it vests powers upon the internal security minister to decide which action to be taken against the suspect.”
“This is what we were against from the beginning, and it is a major drawback to human rights,” Mutahi said on Wednesday.
AI is further calling on Kenya’s government to comply with its international legal obligations concerning the treatment of detainees, and to ensure that suspects are given access to counsel and medical attention — should this be necessary.
The organisation also believes that providing the country’s police officers with training in human rights legislation would reduce rights violations.
The Kikambala bombing was not Kenya’s first experience of terrorism.
In 1998, the United States embassy, then in the centre of the capital, Nairobi, was bombed; the attack killed more than 200 people and injured close to 5 000. On the same day, the US embassy in neighbouring Tanzania was also bombed. Ten people were killed, and about 70 injured in this incident. — IPS