The High Court in London will give judgment on the Mau Mau torture claims on Thursday 21 July 2011 at 10:00 am.
Leigh Day & Co represents four Kenyans who were victims of grave acts of torture at the hands of British officials during the Kenya Emergency in the 1950s and 1960s. The Claimants have each suffered unspeakable acts of brutality, including castrations and severe sexual assaults.
At a previous hearing in April 2011, the British Government sought to have the case thrown out on the grounds that it is the Kenyan Government who is legally responsible for any abuses committed by the British colony. They argued that all liabilities were transferred to the Kenyan Republic upon independence in 1963.
The Claimants represent the wider community of hundreds of elderly Kenyans who are still alive and were the victim of abuses during the Emergency. President Obama’s grandfather was among those who were detained and abused at the time. The Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Kenyan Government are supporting the claims.
The Kenyan Republic strongly refutes any suggestion that they are legally responsible for colonial era atrocities and urge the British Government to concede liability.
If the application to strike out the claims is rejected by the Court, the case will proceed at another date to decide a further technical point raised by the UK Government’s lawyers, namely whether the claims are out of time.
Dan Leader, Counsel at Leigh Day & Co said today:
“This is an opportunity for the British Government to come to terms with the past and apologise to the victims and the Kenyan people for this grave historic wrong. To seek to pin the liability for British torture onto the Kenyan Government is an appalling stance for the Government to take and one which we hope and trust that the Judge will reject.”