Kenya would target Obama's aunt, US judge ruled

Barack Obama's aunt, an undocumented immigrant to the United States, had a well-founded fear of being persecuted by some members of the Kenyan government if she were returned to Kenya, a US judge found in a newly released ruling.

A 29-page written decision in the case of Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Barack Obama Snr, was made public on Monday as a result of a filing under the US Freedom of Information Act.

Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro had ruled in May that Ms Zeituni was entitled to asylum in the United States. The newly published document discloses Judge Shapiro's reasoning in reaching that verdict.

He wrote that because her US immigration status and relationship to the US president had been disclosed, Ms Zeituni “will be a target if she is removed to Kenya.”

The threat to her safety stems not only from “individuals opposed to the United States government or President Obama, but [from] members of the Kenyan government who oppose President Obama's politics and/or his ethnicity, which [Ms Zeituni] shares,” Judge Shapiro added.

Elsewhere in his ruling, sections of which have been blacked-out to prevent release of confidential information, it is stated, “now that her status as an asylum applicant has been disclosed, she would be considered a traitor to her government.” It is not clear who is making that assertion—Judge Shapiro or Ms Zeituni.

The ruling then adds: “She stated that she violated the Kenyan constitution by seeking asylum in the United States.”

But Judge Shapiro rejected Ms Zeituni's claims that she had previously been persecuted in Kenya.

The ruling also discusses the US government's argument in the case that Ms Zeituni would not be persecuted in Kenya. US attorneys had noted, Judge Shapiro wrote, that “the Kenyan government not only celebrated Obama's victory, but also sponsored a delegation of several family members to travel to the 2009 presidential inauguration in Washington DC.”

The US government also asserted, the ruling states, that “because the current prime minister of Kenya, who is a Luo, has claimed to be President Obama's cousin, there is no evidence to suggest that the Kenyan government would seek to harm the Respondent based on her relationship to President Obama.”

Judge Shapiro further noted Ms Zeituni's acknowledgment that none of her many relatives in Kenya had suffered harm. But Ms Zeituni's status differs from theirs, the ruling continued, because of the unsanctioned disclosure of her status in the United States.

Judge Shapiro then went on to recount the ethnic violence that claimed an estimated 1500 lives in Kenya following the 2007 presidential election. He also cited allegations by human rights groups that Kenyan security forces had carried out unlawful killings.

“The evidence establishes that, despite the coalition government in Kenya, security forces as well as non-governmental actors continue to commit grave human rights abuses, including killings, and that the Kenyan government is ineffective in controlling such acts,” the ruling states.

Judge Shapiro then ruled that Ms Zeituni “has demonstrated that she faces at least a 10 per cent chance of future persecution in Kenya on account of imputed political opinion and/or ethnicity.”