WHIPPED: Affey Ali Abdullahi.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
KENYAN security agencies are being increasingly accused of committing human rights violations on the pretext of fighting terror.
In what appears have a link with aspects of the ongoing war on terror, residents of Northeastern, Upper Eastern and the Coast decry the brutality and forced disappearances allegedly increasingly used by the police.
Yesterday, at least five families camped at the Wajir Police Station, seeking answers about missing relatives, including husbands and sons.
Those reported missing are mainly youths aged between 19 and 35.
On May 1, the Star exclusively reported the discovery of mass shallow graves in Wajir believed to have contained at least 11 bodies. It is not yet known who they were and who killed them. But locals have inked it to alleged extrajudicial killings by the police.
Yesterday a source at Amnesty International, who declined to be named because he may preempt ongoing investigations into the matter, said there have been about 500 reported killings and disappearances in Northeastern, Upper Eastern and the Coast in the last two months.
Khadija Osman said her husband Dubat Abdirahman Dahir was picked up by armed individuals in plainclothes at around 2am on Tuesday last week. He has not been seen since then.
“They came home and woke up my husband, who was sleeping. They took him away,” she said.
“If it was the police – and I strongly believe they were – that arrested him, let them show where he is. If at all what they did to my husband was right, why are they hiding him?” she asked.
Ebla Abdullahi said her husband Hussein Ali Abdullahi is also missing. She said he was picked up by people in an unmarked car, believed to be police officers, who drove off with him.
“Can the government tell us where he is?” she asked.
Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery challenged the people of Northeastern to produce evidence of the alleged torture and enforced disappearances by state agencies.
“We want credible evidence on those allegations – not mere political statements,” he said.
Yesterday, the Star received images of Affey Ali Abdullahi, his back bearing many lacerations from flogging. He is the missing Hussein’s brother.
The dugsi (Somali informal madarasa) teacher said he was beaten by members of the Kenya Defence Forces on suspicion that he has links with terror groups in Somalia.
“They wanted to know who my accomplices are. They beat me senseless and held me for three days in the Wajir military camp,” he said.