Britain admits 1950s torture of Kenyans

[Deleted]

www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-18/britain-admits-torturing-kenyans/4137364

The British government has admitted that the colonial administration in Kenya tortured and abused of detainees during the Mau Mau uprising that led to the country's independence.

The admission in the High Court in London came as three elderly Kenyans, who were tortured in detention under British orders in the 1950s, took to the witness stand in poignant scenes that conjured up the darkest days of the end of empire.

They are seeking damages from the British government, which has been trying for three years to block their legal action for fear that it could encourage countless other former colonial subjects to come forward with similar claims.

Tens of thousands of rebels were killed during the British crackdown and about 150,000 Kenyans, many of them unconnected to the Mau Mau, were detained in brutal camps referred to as "Britain's Gulag" by Harvard historian Caroline Elkins.

The claimants, now in their 70s and 80s, suffered acts of brutality including castration, rape and beatings during a ruthless crackdown by British forces and their Kenyan allies on rebels from the Mau Mau movement fighting for land and freedom.

Speaking to the group of Mau Mau veterans, the lawyer representing the British government, Guy Mansfield, said, "I do not dispute that terrible things happened to you."

"[The government] does not dispute that each of the claimants suffered torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration."

He said that each of the detainees suffered torture and other forms of ill treatment at the hand of the colonial administration.

Lawyers for the veterans say this is the first time the government has accepted this.

Tuesday was the second day of a 10-day hearing. The court is not being asked to make a ruling on the substance of the Kenyans' allegations but to decide whether a fair trial can be held so long after the events.

The British government argues that too much time has passed for a fair trial to be conducted.

The claimants' lawyers argue that as there is a mass of documentary and other evidence on the period, a fair trial is possible.

The government has used legal arguments to try and stop their claim, a strategy denounced by South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has accused Britain of hypocrisy for criticising the human rights record of other countries while refusing to face up to its own.

'They castrated me'

The first claimant to take the stand on Tuesday was Wambugu Wa Nyingi, 84, who was arrested in 1952 and spent almost a decade in detention at various camps run by the British and staffed jointly by British guards and Kenyan "loyalists".

In his statement, Mr Nyingi described severe beatings as a routine part of life in the camps. Tall and frail, he wore a suit and tie and a flat cap and used a walking stick. He was helped to the witness stand by his interpreter.

He answered questions from Mr Mansfield, who focused on two topics - the fact that some perpetrators of abuse were Kenyans, and that after independence successive Kenyan leaders were hostile to Mau Mau veterans.

Mr Nyingi became animated in discussing the issue of how Kenya's first two presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi, had oppressed veterans of the armed struggle for independence.

"We were not allowed to meet in public. We were still in prison ... because we were not allowed to talk freely," he said, jabbing his fingers on the stand for emphasis.

He said he and his fellow veterans had been "set free" by Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki, who took office in 2002 and removed the legal ban on the Mau Mau in 2003.

His evidence was a stark reminder of how divisive the Mau Mau movement remains in Kenyan society.

Next to take the stand was Paulo Nzili, 85.

In his 20-page witness statement, he gave excruciating details of how he was castrated at Embakasi detention camp by a white settler called Mr Dunman, nicknamed "Luvai", which in Mr Nzili's Kikamba language means "Merciless person".

"They tied both of my legs with chains and ... pinned down both my hands. Then Luvai approached me with a pair of pliers which were more than a foot long and castrated me," he said in the statement, which was based on his oral account.

Mr Nzili wore a leather jacket and flat cap and used a walking stick. He had difficulty hearing the questions translated by his interpreter.

He was not asked to revisit his abuse on the stand, but to confirm he had recounted his story to the people who drew up the statement, and to confirm he had signed it, which he did.

Jane Muthoni Mara, 73, confirmed the thumb print on her witness statement was her own. The document makes horrifying reading, with details of sexual abuse including rape using a bottle full of boiling water.

BBC/AFP

[Deleted]

Jul 17, 2012 18:48:15 GMT -5 @mx said:

I'm obsessed with this case. It really has the potential to open up the UK to a lot of other suits from its former colonies. Deservedly so IMO. Just because you try to hide it doesn't mean you didn't engage in horrific abuses of human rights.

Do you think then that this will also open it up for other colonies? Such as Spain, Portugal, the Dutch? I ask because from my understanding it wasn't isolated to the British or is it that this is a more recent case and therefore easier to try.

[Deleted]

Thank you so much for posting this.

Sadly, I'm not surprised to hear this. I've always been amazed at how easily we gloss over the atrocities of colonization.

[darnkatz]

This does not surprise me at all (that it happened), but it doesn't stop me from almost getting sick reading the details.

[2curlydogs]

Jul 17, 2012 19:18:52 GMT -5 darnkatz said:

This does not surprise me at all (that it happened), but it doesn't stop me from almost getting sick reading the details.

This. So much this.

I've also sent it on to my sister and BIL, who served in Kenya in the Peace Corps...

[Waytob]

I was born 14 years after Independence but the effects still linger on

Yes there is a fear that this case will bring on thousands of other claimants...however honestly? Most are already dead

The British brought good and bad to Kenya, but the lingering effects of the bad are far longer lasting and when you visit some of these places, and hear the stories of the times of colonization, its is heart breaking.

My father saw some massive atrocities during his time here and he still can't tell us some of the stories without tears in his eyes

I am so glad that they persevered in bringing their claims to court

[marie427]

It's one thing to understand that atrocities were committed but it's a whole other thing to hear them spelled out in such detail like this. So heartbreaking.

I too am interested in whether citizens of other African countries will seek damages against former colonial powers as well.