Mau Mau warriors launch compensation claim against the UK
MAU Mau warriors that fought the British during Kenya’s war of independence are bringing a compensation claim against the UK over alleged military atrocities.
Lawyers for the veterans said they have recorded some 40 cases of torture, including unlawful detention, sexual abuse and castration.
A Nairobi-based spokesman for the Mau Mau said they believed they would win the compensation claim case. However, the British Government said the compensation claim is no longer valid because of the time that has lapsed since the abuses are alleged to have taken place.
Three men and two women from Kenya that were held during the 1950s insurgency are leading the compensation claim, and the case will be lodged at the High Court in London on June 23.
The compensation claim is being brought by the Mau Mau War Veterans’ Association and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and it is not the first compensation claim brought by Kenya’s independence fighters.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission has claimed that 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, while 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions.