Amnesty International Report 2005 - Kenya

Covering events from January - December 2004

Women and girls continued to be subjected to violence in the home, in the community and in the custody of the state. There were continuing reports of torture and ill-treatment by the police. Cases of excessive use of force and arbitrary shootings by police were also recorded. Conditions in detention frequently amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Death sentences continued to be imposed.

Background

The Constitutional Conference completed its work in March. However, despite attempts at consensus-building, the process of bringing the new constitution into force was repeatedly blocked. Contentious issues included chapters relating to the structures of the executive, the devolution of power, and the judiciary. The adoption of the new constitution, announced for 30 June, was again delayed, causing demonstrations around the country and engendering anti-government hostility. A new constitution was still pending at the end of 2004.

During a reshuffle of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) cabinet, in a bid to set up a government of national unity, members of the former governing party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), were brought back into the government's ranks. NARC, a coalition of 14 different political parties, gained power following elections in December 2002.

Police struggled to respond adequately to the high level of violent crime recorded around the country, much of it committed using illicit firearms. There was a complete overhaul of the police force's top officers in March and the police high command presented a five-year strategic plan aiming at reforms.

In July, the Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate illegal or irregular allocation of land handed over its report to the government. Following public demand, the contents of the report were made public in December. In September police used tear gas to disperse members of the Maasai community who were demonstrating over land they lost in colonial times. Several protesters were arrested and one shot dead by police.

In October, Wangari Maathai, environmentalist and founder of the Green Belt Movement, received the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to democracy and sustainable development. An Assistant Minister for Environment in the present government, in the 1990s she was severely assaulted by riot police and jailed overnight for her leading role in campaigns against forest clearances and urban encroachment.

The trial of three men charged with the murder of 15 people in the Mombasa hotel bombing of 2002 was continuing at the end of 2004. They made new applications for bail in November, arguing that they could not be guaranteed that their trial would be conducted within a reasonable time as the prosecution had asked for an adjournment. Their application was rejected.

More people were arrested during "counter-terrorism" operations. The Attorney General announced in September that the Suppression of Terrorism Bill 2003 was being re-drafted to take into consideration comments received from the national and international human rights community.

The UN Security Council met in the capital Nairobi on 18-19 November. This was only the fourth time since 1952 that the full Security Council held a formal session outside its New York headquarters.

Violence against women

Violence against women was widespread, despite efforts to increase public awareness by the authorities and by civil society. Perpetrators included both state officials and private individuals.

• Margaret Muthoni Murage was six months pregnant when she was arrested on 4 May in Nairobi. Accused of stealing gold jewellery from her employer, the 17-year-old was taken to a police station for questioning. When AI delegates visited her in prison some two weeks later, she said that one of the officers repeatedly beat her, kicked her in the side and then knocked her, stomach-first, against the wall. She was taken to the counter and flung under it before being returned to the cell. Shortly afterwards she suffered a miscarriage in the police station. No action had been taken against the police officers by the end of 2004.

Women and girls were also subjected to domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, including of young children, incest, forced marriages and female genital mutilation. Gang rapes and rapes during robberies, burglaries and carjackings were frequently reported. Large numbers of women and girls were raped and murdered. From January to August, police recorded 1,895 rapes, but many more were not reported to police. In 2003 there were 2,308 rapes reported to police. The Kenya Demographic Health Survey, released in August, indicated that more than half the women in Kenya had experienced violence since they were 15. The survey revealed that husbands inflicted 60 per cent of the beatings.

Women's rights groups attributed the low rate of convictions in sexual offences cases to a lack of trained police officers to carry out investigations, to difficulties in the preservation of forensic evidence in rape cases, and to a lack of lawyers with specialized training to prosecute such cases. Government institutions to support survivors of violence were inadequate and services such as shelters and counselling were lacking. There was no access to post-exposure prophylaxis against sexually transmitted diseases in rape cases.

The authorities announced several measures to address violence against women, including a special unit in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to handle sexual offences and a women-only police station (Kilimani Police Station, Nairobi) to deal exclusively with rape, domestic violence and child abuse cases. In October, the Kenya Women Parliamentarian Association sponsored a motion to allow the government to chemically castrate rapists. No debates had taken place on the issue by the end of 2004.

Torture

There were repeated public complaints that police officers tortured and ill-treated detainees. Although the law was amended in 2003 to prohibit the use of confessions made under duress as evidence in criminal proceedings, practices amounting to torture continued to be used as a means of investigation and to extract confessions. The authorities failed to investigate complaints of torture promptly and thoroughly.

• On 24 and 25 January, seven suspects were tortured at Matunda Police Station, Lugari District. They appeared before Kitale Court on 30 January. On seeing their condition, the magistrate ordered immediate medical treatment. A complaint about the torture was lodged with the relevant department within the police. No action had been taken against the offending police officers by the end of 2004.

Unlawful use of firearms by the police

Law enforcement officers used firearms in circumstances far wider than those allowed by international human rights standards, both during anti-crime operations and to disperse demonstrations. There were several reports of excessive use of force and killings by the police in disputed circumstances.

• On 7 July, police in the town of Kisumu fired live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators protesting against the delay in enacting the new constitution. Police killed one person and seriously injured at least 10. Several arrests were also made.

Harsh prison conditions and deaths in custody

Despite some reforms, prison conditions remained harsh. Chronic overcrowding continued to cause serious problems. An estimated 50,000-plus prisoners were held in the country's 92 prisons with a capacity of 19,000. The lack of basic health, nutrition and sanitation provision amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Understaffed and poorly trained prison wardens used excessive force to control inmates. Several people died in custody, allegedly as a result of ill-treatment.

• Five inmates died at Meru Prison on 26 September. According to a post-mortem, they died following injuries caused by blunt trauma and had multiple soft tissue injuries. They were reportedly kicked and struck with truncheons, mainly on the head and joints, on the day they died. They were then forced into a small cell which housed 18 prisoners on the fatal night. The five were discovered dead the next morning. Forty-five inmates reportedly died in suspicious circumstances in Meru prison during the first nine months of 2004, with 14 deaths recorded in September alone. Inquest files were opened at the Meru Court regarding the deaths of 26 September.

Death penalty

Death sentences continued to be imposed but the last executions were carried out in 1986. An important opportunity was lost to abolish the death penalty in Kenya during the constitutional review – the proposed draft constitution made no mention of abolishing it. A total of 101 death row prisoners were released following a court ruling that the prosecution's case had been led by officers below the rank of inspector, as required by the Penal Code. The legality of the release was questioned, as the law provides that death row convicts can be released only by the Court of Appeal or by presidential amnesty.

Statistics from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi indicated that by June 2004 there were 946 prisoners on death row of whom 66 had completed their appeal processes and were awaiting presidential pardon while 880 had appealed against their sentences.

AI country visits

AI delegates visited Kenya in May/June to conduct research.