IMLU wants bill against torture enacted

Written By:KBC Reporters,    Posted: Sun, Feb 26, 2012

The civil society says that enactment of the legislation will help in providing an avenue for effective rights to torture victims The police force has once again been blamed for leading in cases of torture in the country. A report released Sunday by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit says police were behind 52 percent of the 2052 cases of torture reported between 1999 and February 2008. IMLU is now calling for speedy enactment of a law on prevention of torture. The civil society says that enactment of the legislation will also help in providing an avenue for effective rights to torture victims which it says has been sidelined for long in the country. The report which was launched ahead of Monday's Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission hearings on torture incidents further reveals that many torture victims suffer in silence since many have lost confidence in both the police and judicial system. Releasing the report, IMLU Executive Director Peter Kiama regretted that although his organization had filed some of the torture cases in courts for the victims, less had been done to accord them justice. The organization now wants the government to vet serving police officers to weed out those with human rights violation as well as recognizing torture survivors by declaring the infamous Nyayo House Torture Chambers as a monument of shame.