Amnesty says Kenya mistreated terror suspects

Amnesty International (AI), an international human-rights organisation, accused Kenya on Wednesday of violating the rights of suspects detained during anti-terrorism operations after the 2002 terror attacks in the East African country.

"Amnesty International is concerned that Kenyan authorities have failed to act in compliance with human-rights law - and Kenyan law - in the investigations following the bombing of a hotel in Kikambala, near the port city of Mombasa in November 2002, and during other attacks on civilians," AI said in a report.

Presented at a news conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the report gave details of violations, including arbitrary arrests and harassment of family members.

"This failure to respect the rule of law and to comply with the international human-rights standards is evident in numerous reports of incommunicado detention, detention without trial, torture, [and] cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," Sheila Keetharuth, AI's Kenya reseacher, told reporters.

"States have a duty to protect their populations from violent criminal acts, but this duty is not a licence to torture and abuse suspects in secret locations," she added.

Entitled "Kenya: The impact of "anti-terrorism" operations on human rights", AI’s report was based on interviews with former detainees, families of suspects, human-rights activists, lawyers and faith-based organisations carried out in Nairobi, Mombasa and Lamu.

The report carried an interview with am unnamed wife of a suspected terrorist in May 2004: "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.

"They actually started beating me with wooden sticks on my legs, my knees and the soles of my feet," she said. "A woman police officer carried out the beating. The next day I could not walk and [I] had [a] fever. I asked to be brought to the hospital, but they refused to take me."

AI said suspects had also been detained without access to a lawyer, often in unsanitary conditions with no medical care.

Moreover, the detention of relatives in order to pressure suspects into handing themselves in, and the failure of police to show warrants when arresting individuals or conducting searches had also occurred, according to the AI report.

"Almost all those arrested and detained whom Amnesty International met stated that they were interviewed by foreign agents," the report said.

It urged Kenyan authorities to ensure respect for the rights of anyone arrested or detained, according to international law.

Detainees should be given prompt access to legal counsel, relatives and medical care if needed, and any allegations of torture or other ill-treatment should be fully and independently investigated, it added.

The watchdog also appealed to the Kenyan police force to train its officers properly in human-rights law to avoid unlawful arrests or holding people without charge or trial.
Seven men are currently in custody on charges related to the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa in 2002. The attack claimed the lives of 18 people, including three Israelis.