Kenyan Mau Mau Case - Kenyan Veterans in UK Court Bid

An estimated 160,000 people were detained during the insurgency
A compensation claim against the British government brought by veterans of Kenya's independence struggle has been lodged at the High Court.

Three men and two women have launched the case over alleged human rights abuses in the 1950s and 1960s.

Thousands of people were rounded up and forced into camps by the British during what was known as the Mau Mau uprising.
The UK says the claim is not valid because of the amount of time since the abuses were alleged to have happened.

The five Kenyans - aged in their 70s and 80s - are the lead claimants in the reparations case.

'Beaten and castrated'
They want the UK government to acknowledge responsibility for atrocities committed by local guards in camps administered by the British in the pre-independence era.
Their lawyer, Martyn Day, said he believed his clients had "a good chance of success".
He added that the British government of the time had given "a blank cheque" to camp guards in their attempts to force people to abandon the resistance movement.
Mr Day told a news conference: "We want the British government to say what we did was so wrong back in the 1950s.

Not a day goes by when I do not think of these terrible events ~ Ndiku Mutua

The government has indicated that the claim is invalid because of the time that has passed and that any liability rested with the Kenyan authorities after independence in 1963.

Historians say the Mau Mau movement helped Kenya achieve independence.
But their actions have also been blamed for crimes against white farmers and bloody clashes with British forces throughout the 1950s.

The armed movement began in central Kenya during the with the aim of getting back land seized by British colonial authorities.

Veterans of the war say they suffered barbaric treatment, including torture, as the British suppressed the rebellion.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions.

The Five Claimants quote:
I was arrested in 1954, severely beaten and castrated with pliers, at Lukenya detention centre.
"I live with the physical and mental scars of what happened to me.
"Not a day goes by when I do not think of these terrible events. At last I can tell my story and at last I can hope for justice from the British courts." ~ Mr Ndiku Mutua.
I was Castrated ~ Paulo Nzili.
I was tied upside down by the feet and beaten. ~ Wambugu Wa Nyingi
I was Sexually assaulted ~ Jane Muthoni Mara.
I too was Sexually assaulted ~ Susan Ngondi.

Hence, If it was a WWII German soldier, the British would pursue him to the end with war allegations and ensuring that the “So Called” culprit was “tried and charged.”
Why two sets of international laws? ~ KSA

Urussi yatamka kushirikiana kuhusu swala la mashariki ya Katu

Wapigania uhuru kuishitaki Uingereza.
London,Uingereza - 23/06/09.Wapigania uhuru watano wa Kenya ambao walikuwa kundi la Maumau, wamefungua kesi ya mashitaka zidi ya serikali ya Uingereza kwa kuvunja haki za binadamu wakati wa utawala wa kikoloni wa Uingereza ulipo kuwa ukitawala miaka ya 60 kurudi nyuma.
Wapigania uhuru hao ambao wanamiaka kati ta 70 na 80. wanadai ya kuwa serikali ya Uingereza inatakiwa kulipa fidia na kuomba msamahaa kwa matendo yaliyo fanywa na Uingereza wakati Inaitawala Kenya.
Msemaji wa wapigania uhuru hao, Gitu wa Kahengeri, alisema wanafanya hivyo kwa ajili ya wapigania uhuru wenzao, wa kundi la Mau mau ambao walipoteza maisha kwa ajili mya kutetea uhuru.
Hata hivyo serikali ya Uingereza, imedai ya hali halisi ilipewa serikali ya Kenya baada ya kupata uhuru.
Picha hapo juu, ni ya bendera ya Kenya, nchi ambayo ilikuwa chini ya utawala wa Uingereza hadi ilipo pata uhuru 1963.
Picha pili, wanaonekana, baadhi ya wapigania uhuru wa mau mau wakiwa chini ya ulinzi, ambao wengi wao walipoteza maisha wakati wa kutetea uhuru wa nchi yao.

Likini Waki Kua Wao, Wanam fuata paka leo. Waki kutana yule ambao ali kua na Jesi wa Germany wakati wa WWII, watha'm fuata ata leo. ~ KSA

Your views: Kenya Mau Mau case
"What did we do in the period just after the Second World War, how many atrocities were we responsible for in that terrible period?"