Fourteen terror suspects being held at
Kamiti Maximum Security Prison have accused the government of covering
up their alleged torture at the detention facility.
The accusation came after the prisons department ignored a court directive to present them in court for trial on Wednesday.
The
terror suspects claim to have suffered broken bones, dislocations and
deep cuts during an incident at the Kamiti prison on August 27.
The suspects include four men charged in connection with the attack on Westgate shopping mall in September 2013.
Others are an Israeli and a Moroccan linked to Al-Shabaab, and a father and son held over the twin explosions on Thika Road.
Their lawyers claimed prison authorities were shielding them from the public due to the serious injuries they sustained.
'SECURITY CONCERNS'
But
prison authorities, in a letter signed by Mr Henry Kisingu, the officer
in charge of the prison, said they were unable to produce the suspects
in court “due to security reasons.”
“There was an
incident at the Kamiti maximum security prison which resulted in serious
injuries on the accused persons who have not been produced in court
where prison authorities cited security concerns and requested to have
the matters mentioned after two weeks,” Mr Chacha Mwita said.
He
said that since the prison authorities were unable to avail the
suspects to court “we do hereby request to have a special mention at the
Kamiti maximum prison for the court to observe the alleged injuries.”
“The
two weeks sought by the prison authorities in the cases, we believe, is
not done in good faith but intended to cover up the excesses
perpetrated by prison officers and to shield the (suspects) from their
families, who have equally been refused access to their loved ones, the
public and the judicial arm of the government,” lawyer Mbugua Mureithi
said.
MEDICAL ATTENTION
The
suspects, the lawyers said, are held in the same block within the
prison facility and by August 29 had not received proper medical
attention.
Mr Jabreen Ahmed Osama, an Israeli, and Mr
Mohammed Salim, a Moroccan, have been linked to Al-Shabaab and face
eleven counts of terrorism.
They are serving a 12-month
jail sentence each after pleading guilty to a separate charge of being
found in the country illegally.
They were arrested on February 25 on the Nairobi-Kamiti road while planning terror strikes, the prosecution says.
The
suspects were reportedly found collecting information for the
instigation of terror attacks and that various tell-tale materials,
including computer hard disks with Al-Shabaab articles, were found in
their possession.
ASSISTING TERRORISTS
Mr
Worqu Dejene Sar and his father, Sar Guracha Haro, are suspected to
have been behind the explosions that went off in two packed commuter
buses on April 4, killing three passengers.
Mr Mohammed
Ahmed Abdi and three others are charged with assisting the terrorists
who stormed the Westgate shopping mall on September 21, killing 67
people.
The lawyers have asked the court to treat their
application with urgency “due to the prevailing circumstances and the
injuries the suspects suffered.”
“For the interest of
justice it is very critical and fundamental that the accused persons,
who are supposed to be presumed to be innocent until the contrary is
proven, to be presented before a magistrate so as to raise pertinent
issues and concerns... if at all there was any breach, the law does not
provide for the use of maximum force,” they said.
No comments :
Post a Comment