Thread by @kavsmaina

Tomorrow 26th June 2020, is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Torture has a long and sordid History in Kenya. From the British Colonialists to the present day!
#SupportLifeAfterTorture
@IMLU_org @HakiKNCHR @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

The legal definition of torture means, "an act committed by a person acting under color of law. specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person. Victims require support & Justice. #SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

1950’s are where the majority of stories of torture in Kenya were born. Many have never known Justice. Many buried these stories in their subconscious only the very brave have chronicled the torture they underwent at the hands of the brutal colonialists. #SupportLifeAfterTorture

The Colonialist imperial forces tortured Kenyans fighting against British rule in the 1950s. They treated them as sub-humans.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture
Many died, many were irreversibly damaged. Where is their Justice?
@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

The amount of torture meted out on detainees meant some would rather sever their limbs than go to the fields for the backbreaking work assigned to them. That was the extent of the torture they endured. #SupportLifeAfterTorture What was their quality of life thereafter?
@IMLU_org

This brutality against our people was "outsourced" to the home guard & headmen who no longer saw their kinsmen as such but as "magaidi" that needed containment. They tortured their own to safeguard their interests as the Wakubwa's faves. #SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

This level of torture would ensure that you were never the same again if you did survive. The families of these victims need reparations for the crimes against humanity meted out upon them. Some of whom their only error was being Agikuyu!
#SupportLifeAfterTorture
@IMLU_org

Children were not spared. The brutality was indiscriminate. This Mother lost her child. No amount of compensation can make up for the mental anguish of seeing her child trampled on by soldiers. #SupportLifeAfterTorture

These are your Home Guards, a stain on the Kenyan Conscience. They families that were irreversibly damaged by their brutality must get Justice.
Those that survived were never the same. 😪

#SupportLifeAfterTorture
@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

In 2013, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced Thursday that the government would pay about $30 million in compensation to more than 5,000 victims of abuse in its former East African colony.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture
@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

Martyn Day, a lawyer for the Kenyan claimants, said he hoped that Mr. Hague’s statement would prove to be “the final resolution of this legal battle that has been going on for so many years. #SupportLifeAfterTorture
@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama
nytimes.com/2013/06/07/wor…

aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

Well, this article was documented in 2016 and many are still awaiting recognition.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture
@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

Fast Forward to the Moi Regime.
In the late 1980s & 1990s, dozens of political prisoners were tortured in a notorious prison below Nyayo House. Some died. The tortures took place under Daniel arap Moi, who ruled with an increasingly heavy hand.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture

Many victims were suspected members of Mwakenya, an underground movement of activists opposed to Mr Moi's rule.
The prisoners were held for weeks without being charged in dank, cramped cells.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture @MutemiWaKiama

Detainees were stripped and sprayed with cold water. Their cells were flooded with knee-deep water and they were given little food; some were beaten daily for hours with sticks and burnt with cigarette ends. This went on for days on end. #SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

My screams did not help as they continued brutalizing me," he said. "They were insisting that I confess all that I knew or they would kill me. After collapsing due to exhaustion, I was returned to the basement cells. Nganga Thiongo. We Lived To Tell. #SupportLifeAfterTorture

The 14 cells were so dark that a torch’s light was not enough to illuminate the 10 by 10ft cells, that hold harrowing memories of Kenya’s darkest days, when the word freedom only existed in a dictionary. This was Moi's torture factory.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

Through the ventilation holes, the officers of pain were based at a control room from where they unleashed the wrath.
They would release either extremely cold or hot air & dust
Their feet were always submerged in water. #SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

@Nanjala1 wrote an article.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org theelephant.info/ideas/2017/08/…

The scale of the operation was eventually so large that it couldn’t be contained completely and locals would swear that even the air around the building was sodden with the stench of death.

Kenya acceded to the UN Convention against Torture & other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) in 1997. Twenty years later, it enacted The Prevention of Torture Act, 2016, which then became operational on April 20, 2017.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

The law now provides a clear platform to actualize several fundamental articles in the Constitution, including Article 25 with regard to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

Article 28 on respect & protection of human dignity, & Article 29 on freedom and security of the person. It brings all State agencies & officials under the ambit of accountability for torture, and provides clear penalties for such atrocities.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

Under this new law those perpetuating torture & ill-treatment will no longer be charged with such crimes as assault but with the more serious crime of torture or ill-treatment that will now attract a sentence of not more than 25yrs & 15yrs respectively. #SupportLifeAfterTorture

It provides for redress & reparations, as provided for under the UN Convention against Torture, the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights, & the Victims Protection Act 2014. It includes compensation as well as medical & psycho-social rehabilitation. #SupportLifeAfterTorture

Despite these gains, torture remains an ever present danger in Kenya. Especially at the hands of the police aka The People Containment Unit.
#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

The popo like the Home Guard, see their fellow Citizens as people to be brutalized!

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

This is brutality. This is torture. This is not assault. The Charge should reflect the crime!
The Law must not be applied selectively.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture

@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

Taimajini! Altering someone's life irreversibly just because as a Police Officer you think you can get away with it. Enforce the law as it is stipulated. Not by brutalizing the offender!

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

Justice will be realized once the perpetrators are actually charged and punished for their crimes. As long as they get away with just slaps on the wrists or transfers the spiral will continue.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

How @IMLU_org is proposing to support victims of torture.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Maskani254

David was trying to save his child, the only way he knew how. Little did he know he would be brutalized and succumb to his injuries for it. 😪😪😪

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

What was the reasoning ( if any at all) of this officer??

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

The heartache this image gives jamani. He was coming from his hustle. 10 minutes late. What did he do to deserve having his nose broken this way then left to bleed on the street. Is this enforcement? Does it equal brutality?
#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

By prosecuting and jailing all offending officers! Then follow that up with providing support to the victims.

Tumechoka!

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

...and we support you @IMLU_org

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @MutemiWaKiama

Indeed it is. Let us all play our collective parts. This scourge affects all of us directly or indirectly.

Injustice anywhere remains a threat to justice everywhere.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @MutemiWaKiama @IMLU_org

Everyday, we learn. Here are some facts from the ground.

Your main culprits are those tasked to protect you. They are your greatest tormentors. The irony!

#SupportLifeAfterTorture

@Ayielar @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

We are under sieke from those tasked with security and protection. Tutalilia nani?

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Ayielar

Then people wonder why we are terrified of the police? 😒😒

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Ayielar

The colonial hangover still with us.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Ayielar

Agreed. There can be no justification for torture and ill treatment.

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama @Ayielar

The question is, will these agencies investigate the crimes? Many question if reporting really helps get justice because files continue to gather dust while perpetrators continue to brutalize folks out here? What is different now? If anything?

#SupportLifeAfterTorture @IMLU_org

Remember!

Torture seeks to annihilate the victim’s personality and denies the inherent dignity of the human being.

Hold your Thirikari to account ALWAYS and in ALL WAYS. Perpetrators must pay. Reparations are due!

#SupportLifeAfterTorture

@IMLU_org @MutemiWaKiama

Fin.