Mau Mau case opens at UK High Court

Mau Mau case opens at UK High Court Written By:BBC,    Posted: Mon, Jul 16, 2012

Papers in the case were first served on the government in 2009 Three Kenyans alleging torture by UK colonial authorities during the Mau Mau uprising want to live their final years with dignity, a court has heard. The three former Mau Mau fighters have taken their case for an apology and damages from the British government to the High Court in London. Their lawyers have said they represent hundreds of Kenyans who were victims of brutality in the 1950s and 60s. The government has previously said it was not liable. The Foreign Office previously indicated it would defend the claim "given the length of time elapsed and the complex legal and constitutional questions the case raises". It said the Mau Mau issue remained deeply divisive and that this period of Kenyan history caused a great deal of pain for many on all sides. Papers in the test case were first served on the UK in 2009. In 2011, a High Court judge ruled the claimants - Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara - did have an arguable case. In his ruling, Mr Justice McCombe emphasised that he had not found there was systematic torture in the Kenyan camps nor that, if there was, the UK government was liable for what happened. The men's lawyers allege that Mr Nzili was castrated, Mr Nyingi severely beaten and Mr Mara subjected to appalling sexual abuse in detention camps during the rebellion. A fourth claimant, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, has died since the High Court ruling that the test case could go ahead. The hearing will have access to an archive of 8,000 secret files that were sent back to Britain after Kenya gained its independence in 1963. The claimants are being supported by the Kenyan government and three academic experts on the "Kenya Emergency", which lasted from 1952-60, have made lengthy statements in support of their allegations. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has written to Prime Minister David Cameron accusing Britain of neglecting its human rights duties over the case. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said Britain's unwillingness to make amends was "strongly out of step with many other modern democracies that have been faced with historic allegations of abusive conduct".