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Title: Mau Mau rebellion: Torture of rebels including Obama's grandfather
Source:
Capital Bay
URL Source: http://news1.capitalbay.com/news/mau_mau_rebellion_torture_of.html
Published: Apr 5, 2011
Author: Liz Hazelton
Post Date: 2011-04-05 17:56:24 by Sebastian
Keywords: None
Views: 755
* 'Torture victims' in court for landmark claim against British government * Files exposing abuse were flown out of Kenya on eve of independence * 50 year cover up as damning papers languished in Foreign Office * Successful case could open floodgates from claims around world The full horror of a brutal campaign of torture meted out by British officials on Kenyan rebels including Barack Obama's grandfather has emerged for the first time. A cache of secret documents detailing efforts to suppress the Mau Mau uprising has lain hidden in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London, for 50 years. Removed from Kenya on the cusp of independence, they were uncovered in January after five Kenyans launched a lawsuit against the British government. The claimants say they suffered castration, sexual abuse and severe beatings in detention camps administered by the British government and want an apology and financial compensation. Prison camp: Thousands of suspected rebels were rounded up during Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion Arrests: Alleged Mau Mau terrorists go before a court charged with beating and hacking a number of people to death Obama's grandfather Hussein Onyango Obama was rounded up in 1949 in the very early days of the rebellion and spent two years in a high security prison. Once a cook for a British officer, his family claim Mr Obama was horrifically tortured, whipped every morning and evening until he confessed. His third wife Sarah Onyango said white jailers would squeeze his testicles with parallel metallic rods and pierce his nails and buttocks with pins. Mr Obama, whose involvement with the rebellion has never been clear, was left permanently scarred and bitterly anti-British. His account tallies with the experiences of the five elderly Kenyans now suing the British government. The claimants, represented by law firm Leigh, Day & Co, say they were 'subjected to gross abuse and torture. 'Such abuse included whippings, beating, castration and sexual abuse of men and women . . . in many cases the abuse and torture was so brutal and dangerous that the detainee died.' Court case: (left to right) Ndiku Mutua, Paulo Nzili, Jane Muthoni Mara, Gitu Wa Kahengeri and Wambugu Wa Nyingi are taking the British government to court over alleged torture during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya The crux of their case due to open on Thursday, relies on the premise that the bloody campaign was not isolated incidents but systematic abuse sanctioned by the authorities. This, they will argue, would make the current British government liable. Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua was a 24-year-old herdsmen from Eastern Province when he claims he was castrated by British officials in 1957. In papers lodged with the High Court in London, he describes being arrested, beaten repeatedly and then blindfolded and pinned to the floor. He was then castrated, he claims, and was left without medical attention for two days before the prison was over-run by Mau Mau rebels. A second claimant also claims he was castrated while another says she was sexually assaulted with bottles filled with hot water. Another claimant Wambugu wa Nyingi says he was 'suspended by his feet from the hut roof. 'He was then subjected to a severe beating over a period of about 30 minutes, while cold water was poured on to his face and into his mouth so he could not breathe.' The Mau Mau rebellion is widely regarded as one of the worst episodes in British colonial history. As many as 150,000 suspected members of the resistance movement. which had its roots in the Kikuyu tribe, were detained without trial between 1952 and 1960. At least 12,000 were killed with thousands more left with deeply debilitating physical and mental injuries. There were, however, atrocities on both sides and the British authorities argued they were acting for the security of the country. But the brutality with which officials put down the rebellion was controverisal even at the time. In the dying days of the administration, officials worked frantically to spirit the evidence of the bloody campaign back to Britain. According to The Times, a memo from a Foreign Office official notes that the files were removed on the grounds that they 'might embarrass HMG (Her Majesty's Government), might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others'. A memo marked 'Most Secret' stated that 'the vast majority of the files concern the Emergency: eg, intelligence reports and summaries, African associations, activities of Africans, unrest in the districts etc . . . collective punishments, detainees and detention camps'. On December 3 1963 - nine days before independence - a British Airways flight flew the 1,500 papers out of the country. Their exact whereabouts then became mired in controversy. Some even claimed they had been dumped in the Indian Ocean to prevent them ever being read. That was not the case. They landed safely at Gatwick and were transported to a archive in the Foreign Office. Housed in 300 boxes filling some 110ft of shelves, they have remanied shrouded in secrecy ever since. The Kenyan government asked for them back in 1967 - only to be refused. 'These documents were hidden away to protect the guilty,' David Anderson, Professor of African History at the University of Oxford, told The Times. The British government denies any liability, arguing the alleged abuse was carried out by a colonial government and culpability was ceded to the Kenyan authorities with Independence. If found liable, the compensation bill could run into millions of pounds. As many as 1,400 potential Mau Mau claimants are still alive. There is also the potential of setting a precedent which could prove even more costly. There are rumoured to be similar 'secret' papers on former dependent territories Cyprus, Nigeria, Malaya and Palestine.
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