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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Kenya vets sue Britain over 'torture' |
| 2009-06-23 |
| Pity Barry's Granddad is enjoying his 72 tear old virgin otherwise he might have been able to line up for some loot. FIVE elderly Kenyans have launched a legal bid to win compensation from Britain over claims they were tortured and unlawfully imprisoned during colonial rule half a century ago. The veterans of the Mau Mau revolt, which led to a series of bloody clashes between Kenyan nationalists and British forces throughout the 1950s, left Kenya for the first time in their lives to take legal action in person in London. The three men and two women are also hoping to shake off the label of terrorists given them by their British rulers, and want to be seen as freedom fighters who helped liberate their country from the shackles of colonialism. "Many Mau Mau were beaten and tortured and many were killed. This case is about bringing all those issues before the British courts to say what we did was so wrong back in the 1950s," said Martyn Day, one of their lawyers. "They have lived under a shadow in Kenya, a shadow which started with the British regime and effectively continued for many, many years." Mr Day said the compensation bid had "a good chance of success". The women veterans, Jane Muthoni Mara and Susan Ngondi, said they were sexually abused and suffered horrific mutilation. One of the men, Paulo Nzili, said he had been arrested by British forces, who castrated him using pliers in 1954. He survived severe beatings that killed many other Mau Mau. "I would be very happy if we succeed in this case," the frail 81-year-old said after a press conference to launch the legal bid. "But the most important thing for me is to be recognised as a freedom fighter, as a liberator." An estimated 160,000 people were detained and forced into camps by the British during what was known as the Mau Mau uprising. Another veteran, Wambugu Wa Nyingi, said: "At one camp, called Hola, they had locked us up in an isolated space. There were 12 of us and they killed 11 and I was the only survivor." Pity Barry's Granddad is enjoying his 72 year old virgin, otherwise he might have been able to line up for some loot. John Nottingham, a former British colonial official in Kenya who refused to carry out the torture orders, has helped the veterans bring their case by studying British government documents. "I feel very emotionally affected by what is happening this morning," he said. "It has taken a long time for what happened in Kenya in those 10 years of the Emergency for anything to be done about it all. |
| Posted by:tipper |