Humans rights lobbies accuse police of torture in Mpeketoni aftermath

Police are being accused, again, of meting out torture on residents of Lamu and Tana River counties, just days after the same area was attacked by terrorists last year.

Human Rights Watch and Kenya the Human Rights Commission say in their report, Insult to Injury: The 2014 Lamu and Tana River Attacks and Kenya’s Abusive Response, that police operations in response to the terror attacks turned against residents instead of looking for criminals.

Monday marks a year since eight villages and a passenger bus were attacked and 87 people killed.

The attacks started in Mpeketoni in Lamu before spreading to other villages for several weeks.

The villages included Poromoko, Mapenya, Hindi, Gamba, Pandanguo and Lamu.

A passenger bus operated by Tahmeed Bus Services was also torched after seven of its occupants were shot and four police officers killed.

Although Al-Shabaab militants took responsibility for the incidents, the government initially blamed the attacks on local politics.

The terrorists, according to witnesses, stabbed and shot people at close range, sometimes before their family members.

They also set police stations and business premises on fire and killed a number of police officers.

In Mpeketoni, locals said at the time that the attackers, who were masked, arrived in a van wearing military/police-style clothing. They carried guns and wore vests, perhaps bullet-proof.

They reportedly rented a local guesthouse and spoke on radio gadgets before launching attacks.

But the rights groups say the police response was as punitive.

“In both Tana River and Lamu counties, security forces’ beatings of men and boys during the operations caused bleeding and loss of consciousness,” the report states.

“The mixed forces arbitrarily detained dozens of men at local police stations. Many were released without charge, or were charged and charges dropped by the police within weeks for lack of evidence.”

SLOW TO RESPOND
"First, they accuse the police of being slow to respond. Then, they claim security agencies detained people indiscriminately, with some being held longer than legally required before they were charged. In one instance, a 56-year-old man was held for two weeks," according to the report.

The government had responded to the violence by sending in a team from the regular police, the Administration Police, the General Service Unit, the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, the Kenya Defence Forces, and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The report says researchers contacted the police for a response, but the police did not respond.

The groups interviewed 21 survivors of terror attacks, 57 people who claim they were beaten by the police, witnesses to the violence, religious leaders, government officials and local community leaders. The people interviewed have not been named in the report, in what the agencies say is to protect their identity.

“People should work with local communities to investigate the attacks and ensure that law enforcement operations are free of discrimination and abuse,” said Leslie Lefkow, Deputy Africa Director at Human Rights Watch.

In one village, called Ngumu in Tana River County, the rights groups say they heard stories of the villagers claiming they were held in an open field, where many men were beaten.

After several hours, 41 men were selected and moved to police cells, while the others were released.

The 41 were later released without charge after being held for slightly more than 24 hours in police cells.

SIMILAR OPERATIONS

In Lamu County, the forces carried out similar operations in Mpeketoni centre, Witu and Hindi in June, July and August.

Security agencies searched homes and shops, beat villagers, arrested men and boys and stole money and other valuables, according to testimony from locals.

The report compliments an earlier finding by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, which charged that the security response to the attacks was slow and chaotic.

Now the agencies say the Mpeketoni failures could be the result of internal problems that must be dealt with through police reforms.

The agencies want security chiefs to launch investigations into the incidents and punish responsible officers.

“Kenya is faced with enormous security challenges but the authorities have an obligation to respond effectively and protect rights at the same time,” said Davis Malombe, the deputy director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

“A response that ignores basic rights is not effective, and only risks making the situation worse.”