Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the
early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/torture/Kenya.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to
illuminate the situation in Kenya.
Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that
are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate
their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Kenya U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/kenya/
[accessed 26 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT NGOs continued to
receive reports of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment by
government forces. As of October 1, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit
documented 43 cases of torture and other inhuman treatment allegedly
perpetrated by police during the year. Police and prison
officials reportedly used torture and violence during interrogations as well
as to punish pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners. According to human
rights NGOs, physical battery, bondage in painful positions, and electric
shock were the most common methods used by police. A range of human rights
organizations and media reported police committed indiscriminate violence
with impunity. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Human rights
organizations reported prison, detention center, and police station
conditions were harsh due to overcrowding, food and water shortages, and
inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Police used
excessive force in some cases when making arrests. For example, there were
numerous press and NGO reports of police brutality against protesters and
unarmed citizens (see sections 2 and 5), particularly related to the
enforcement of COVID-19 public-health measures. Human Rights Watch reported
that on March 27, police in Mombasa assaulted and used tear gas against
crowds, including persons waiting for a passenger ferry, more than two hours
before the start of curfew. Video clips on television and social media showed
police kicking and beating individuals, including using batons, and forcing
many to lie down on the ground in close quarters. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/kenya/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Violence against
suspects and detainees by security forces, including extrajudicial killings, remains
a serious concern, and abuses are rarely punished. According to the Deadly
Force Database kept by the Daily Nation, about 189 people were killed
by police in the period between October 1, 2018, through
September 30, 2019. An average of 16 people were
killed each month, a decline from the 21 a month during the previous year.
Further deaths are believed to have gone unreported. Some officers posted
photos of executed victims on social media. Extrajudicial killings have been
especially prevalent in low-income areas in Nairobi. 8
herders nursing serious injuries after ‘torture’ by KDF soldiers Abdimalik Hajir,
Daily Nation, 4 September 2018 [accessed 6
September 2018] At least eight
herders are nursing serious injuries at Masalani
Hospital in Ijara Sub-County, Garissa County, after
they were allegedly tortured by Kenya Defence
Forces (KDF) soldiers conducting an operation to flush out al-Shabaab
militants from Boni Forest. The herders, some
of whom were brought to the hospital unconscious, claimed the soldiers round
them up before ordering them to undress. They alleged the
officers then told them to lie facing down before raining blows and kicks on
them. They were also beaten up using clubs. Nyayo House: Meet James Opiyo, Kenya’s dreaded 'torture-in-chief' Nairobian reporter,
6 June 2018 www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2001283085/nyayo-house-meet-james-opiyo-kenya-s-dreaded-torture-in-chief [accessed 6 June
2018] Listen to eminent
author Ngugi wa Thiong’o whose hood was removed from his head and “I was
taken into a room, put on a seat and there I found myself in front of nine
mean-looking guys.” That was followed by endless interrogation spiced with
beatings, slaps, kicks, whips, wooden pieces of wood and burning with
cigarette ends. Recalls Ngugi: “My screams did not help and as they continued brutalising me… after collapsing due to exhaustion, I was
returned to the basement cells. The guards were instructed to continue with
the beatings.” Anyone deemed an
enemy of the Kanu regime in the 1980s and 1990s,
including politicians, scholars, university students, lawyers, journalists,
civil servants, workers and peasants, had a painful rendezvous with Opiyo. 3
Kitui women accuse police of torture at Syongila AP Camp Kitavi Mutua,
Daily Nation, 10 November 2017 [accessed 11
November 2017] The AP officers
stormed their homes, found them cooking and dragged them out of their
kitchens as their young children cried in fear of the officers’ terror. At the camp, they were accused of
insulting Pastor Augustus Ngui of Vision Outreach
Ministry, whose church they ditched. WHIPS - The police forced
them to lie on their bellies on a dusty floor inside their camp and started
whipping their backsides, the woman told the Nation. “We were held for more than three hours at
night, facing brutal assault and no charges were preferred against us,” Mrs Kyalo, who was accompanied
by her husband Kyalo Musyimi
at the hospital, said. “The officers
released us instead of booking us at the nearest police station, if we had
committed any offence.” Mr Musyimi claimed that the AP officers were bribed by
Pastor Ngui to “discipline the women” to settle a
score. The women said they were not
in good terms with the church leader after they quit his ministry and joined
another church. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] KENYA ABUSES BY GOVERNMENT
SECURITY FORCES
- Kenyan security forces conducted several abusive counterterrorism
operations in Nairobi, on the coast, and in North Eastern region in 2014
following attacks and intercommunal clashes. The operations largely targeted
ethnic Somali and Muslim communities. During the Usalama Watch operation in Nairobi and Mombasa in April,
security officers from multiple agencies raided homes, buildings, and shops,
carting away money, cell phones, and other goods. They harassed and detained
thousands— including journalists, refugees, Kenyan citizens, and
international aid workers—without charge, and in
appalling conditions for periods well beyond the 24-hour legal limit. Various police
units have also been implicated in the torture, disappearance, and unlawful
killing of alleged terrorism suspects and individuals of Somali origin,
Somali refugees, and Muslims in Mombasa, Nairobi, North Eastern region, and
other parts of the country. Prison Commandant
boss sued over torture of five inmates Maureen Odiwuor, Standard Digital News, Kisumu, 7 March 2014 www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000106290/prison-commandant-boss-sued-over-torture-of-five-inmates [accessed 17 March
2014] www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000106290/prison-commandant-boss-sued-over-torture-of-five-inmates [accessed 31
December 2017] A lawyer in Kisumu
has sued Prisons Commandant Isaiah Osugo over
torture of five inmates. The inmates at Kibos Main Prison
in Kisumu County are alleged to have been tortured during a raid for
contraband on February 13. Lawyer Jamsumbah Onyango
told the High Court sitting in Kisumu that on February 14, he went to the
prison seeking to visit and interview the five but was denied the opportunity
to see them. Prison officials told him the previous night they was a problem. He told Justice Hillary Chemitei
that out of curiosity, he found out from prison warders that prisoners were
unlawfully tortured and they sustained serious injuries. Those who were badly
injured were not allowed to see their relatives or advocates. Masinde’s
torture ordeal in the hands of police Joe Kiarie, The Standard, Nairobi, Kenya, 30 Aug 2013 www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000092372&story_title=Kenya-masinde-s-torture-ordeal-in-the-hands-of-police [accessed 31 Aug
2013] Charles Masinde still rues the moment he dared argue with a
traffic policeman. “Two men in
plainclothes and one in police uniform jumped out, identified themselves as policemen
and started raining kicks and blows on me. They pointed guns at me, saying
they would kill me for kidnapping a state officer,” Masinde says he was taken
to Parklands Police Station where he claims two officers beat him nightlong
before he was released early the following morning with no charges preferred
against him. Kenya police
accused of abuse, torture, rape of Somali refugees after terror attacks Tom Odula, The Associated Press AP, Nairobi, 29 May 2013 [accessed 21 March
2014] Kenyan police abused
and extorted money from Somali refugees after attacks in the capital believed
to have been carried out by the Somali militant group al-Shabab,
an international human rights group said Wednesday. The Human Rights
Watch report, covering mid-November to late January, also said that police
arbitrarily arrested more than 1,000 asylum seekers. The rights group
said police used the attacks and a government order to relocate urban
refugees to camps as an excuse to carry out the abuses. “Refugees told us
how hundreds of Kenyan police unleashed 10 weeks of hell on communities close
to the heart of Nairobi, torturing, abusing, and stealing from some of the
country’s poorest and most vulnerable people,” said Gerry Simpson, senior
refugee researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the report. A report released
last week by the government-funded Truth Justice and Reconciliation
Commission found Kenya’s state security agencies, particularly the police and
army, have been the main perpetrators of human rights violations, including
massacres, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence. A bribe-taking
culture exists in the force and officers live in deplorable conditions, are
poorly paid, under-equipped and understaffed, former police spokesman Eric Kiraithe admitted last year. JUVENILE INJUSTICE:
Police Abuse And Detention Of Street Children In Kenya Human Rights Watch
Children's Rights Project, June 1997 -- ISBN 1-56432-214-9 Library of Congress 97-77536 Click [here]
to access the article. Its URL is not
displayed because of its length [accessed 25
September 2011] Street children in
Kenya face innumerable hardships and danger in their daily lives. In addition
to the hazards of living on the street, these children face harassment and
abuse from the police and within the juvenile justice system for no reason
other than the fact that they are street children. Living outside the
protection of responsible adults, street children are easy and silent targets
for abuse by police and society at large. On the streets, they are subject to
frequent beatings by police as well as monetary extortion and sexual abuse.
They are subject to frequent arrest simply because they are homeless. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article
-- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS BY POLICE
- Amnesty International continued to receive reports of a range of human
rights violations by the police including excessive use of force, arbitrary
arrests and cases of ill-treatment of people in police detention. There were
also numerous reports that the police targeted members of particular
communities, in particular people of Somali origin, across the country. Impunity for human
rights violations committed by the police continued. The implementation of
key laws setting the framework for police reform was seriously delayed. The
Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) began work in June. It was
mandated to investigate complaints and disciplinary or criminal offences
committed by any member of the National Police Service. However, there were
concerns that the budget allocated to IPOA was not sufficient for it to carry
out its mandate. In October, police
arrested Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) leader Omar Mwamnuadzi,
as well as more than 40 other people believed to be members of the MRC.
During their arrest, two people were killed and several others injured by the
police, including Omar Mwamnuadzi who was beaten.
The group was charged with a range of offences, including belonging to an
unlawful group, incitement and possession of firearms. Their cases were
pending at the end of the year. In October, police
fired rubber bullets into a crowd demonstrating outside a police station
about insecurity in Mathare, an informal settlement
in Nairobi. Three protesters were arrested and charged with incitement to
violence. Seven activists, including an Amnesty International staff member
and two volunteers, who had attempted to meet with the police to discuss the
protest, were arbitrarily detained, held overnight at Pangani
police station in incommunicado detention and
beaten. They were charged with incitement to violence, obstructing an officer
while on duty and disorderly behaviour. The case
was pending at the end of the year. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current articles:: Search Amnesty International
Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=kenya+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 6 January 2019] Scroll Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political
Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/kenya [accessed 26 June
2012] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] While there are
checks on arbitrary arrest in the legal system, they are not uniformly
respected. Police still use force to extract information from suspects and
deny them access to legal representation. Security forces engaged in
extrajudicial killings during the 2008 postelection violence. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61575.htm [accessed 16
February 2011] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61575.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices and the government took steps to eliminate prisoner
abuse. There were documented instances of police using physical violence and
torture during interrogations and as punishment of both pretrial detainees
and convicted prisoners. Detainees
frequently claimed that they had been tortured or abused, making it difficult
to separate real from fabricated incidents. But human rights organizations,
churches, and the press highlighted and criticized numerous cases of torture
and several cases of indiscriminate police beatings. The IMLU received 397 cases
alleging torture at the hands of security officers, an increase from the 304
allegations IMLU received in 2004. According to the IMLU, a common form of
torture was falanga, the beating of the feet and
joints while the feet and hands were handcuffed and the victim was suspended
upside down. Another method included placing a metallic drum over the
victim's head and shooting at the drum. The IMLU reported
that cases of police torture resulted in death (see section 1.a.). Since the police
themselves were responsible for investigating and prosecuting most crimes,
reports from IMLU and other human rights organizations that provided evidence
of torture by security forces were routinely ignored. In February Salim
Elijah Masinde, an inmate in Kamiti
Prison told IMLU he had been severely beaten while in custody since 1988. A
doctor's examination revealed that he had been abused. An IMLU investigation
was ongoing at year's end and Masinde remains in
prison. There were no
developments in the June 2004 case of David Ndegwa Kimemia who suffered a broken leg while in custody. OnMay 4, Ndegwa was acquitted
of abusing a local chief due to lack of evidence. All material used herein reproduced under
the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and
educational use. PLEASE RESPECT
COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin,
"Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in
the early years of the 21st Century- Kenya", http://gvnet.com/torture/Kenya.htm,
[accessed <date>] |
