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HEADLINE:
Kenya; Rights Groups Press for Release of Four-Year-Old |
Feb 02, 2007
The Nation
Human rights groups yesterday petitioned the
police to release a four-year-old girl, who
is among 70 people arrested over links to
terrorism.
The Kenya Human Rights Network (KHRN)
accused the police of detaining the suspects
illegally for 26 days, even after a court in
Mombasa ordered them to be released or
charged.
The mother of the girl, Ms Hafswa Swaleh
Ali, is among three pregnant women being
held in police cells, said the rights
groups.
It was unfair and unlawful to detain the
child because of crimes allegedly committed
by her mother, said the activists.
But after a meeting with Police Spokesman
Gideon Kibunja, the rights activists were
told that the girl, her mother and another
Kenyan woman would be released later in the
evening.
Tunisian woman
The third pregnant woman, said to be
Tunisian, would be repatriated.
Earlier, the executive director of the
network, Ms Beatrice Kamau, said one of the
women in custody was nursing a bullet wound.
She was arrested near the Kenya-Somalia
border, in Lamu, by Kenyan police, who
allegedly shot her.
The human rights activists also claimed that
they had information from some of the
detainees that the three women were being
mistreated.
An attempt by the officials, led by Ms Kamau,
to see Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, and
present him with a petition was
unsuccessful.
They were instead referred to Mr Kibunja.
They held a two-hour closed-door meeting at
Vigilance House, where they presented their
four-page petition.
In the petition, the human rights officials
said they had confirmed that there were many
people still being held as terror suspects
in various police stations around Nairobi.
The officials said they also had information
that some suspects had been irregularly
deported to other countries, notably
Somalia.
Such an action against people seeking refuge
was a violation of the international
conventions relating to refugees, which the
Kenyan Government was a signatory to.
The petition was signed by the chairman of
the Kenya National Commission on Human
Rights (KNCHR), Mr Maina Kiai, whom the
group met on Wednesday. Others were Mr Harun
Ndubi, Mr Alamin Kimathi, Mr Farah Maalim
and Ms Fatuma Anyanzwa.
The letter said in part: "The KNCHR and the
KHRN would like to reiterate that they
recognise the national interests in
defending Kenya against credible threats of
terrorism."
The officials said efforts to confront such
a threat must be carried out in a just and
accountable manner, taking into
consideration the upholding of the rule of
law and fundamental rights and freedoms.
--February 2, 2007 |
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