Human Rights Watch says Bensouda move on Uhuru case 'deeply disturbing'

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's bid on Thursday to postpone President Kenyatta's trial indefinitely is drawing criticism from a human rights advocacy group.

Ms Bensouda's announcement is “deeply disturbing for all those who are looking to the ICC to provide justice where there has been none in Kenya,” said Elizabeth Evenson, senior counsel for international justice at Human Rights Watch.

The prosecutor's decision to seek an adjournment “comes in the context of an unprecedented climate of witness interference that the government has failed to check,” Ms Evenson added.

She urged Ms Bensouda to “use every appropriate means to continue her investigation in order to determine whether the necessary evidentiary requirements can be met.”

The case against the Kenyan leader now appears “near collapse,” the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Ms Bensouda's statement that she now lacks sufficient evidence to proceed with the trial signals “a major and potentially fatal setback” to the long-running effort to put President Kenyatta on trial for crimes against humanity, the Times added.