Government accused in torture case
Monday January 25 2010
The Government has applied to have claims by Kenyan victims of alleged British colonial torture thrown out of court, a leading law firm said.
The allegations relate to the Mau Mau rebellion, a Kenyan insurgency which took place in the 1950s against British colonial rule.
The rebellion, also known as the Emergency period, cost the lives of an estimated 20,000 supporters who killed around 4,000 people, including a small number of white settlers.
Leigh Day & Co solicitors, instructed by the Kenya Human Rights Commission to represent some of those who were allegedly tortured, said the Government had applied to strike out the case.
The hearing is due to take place in London's High Court in the spring.
Leigh Day lawyers said the Government's legal team would argue that the liabilities of the Kenyan colonial administration were passed on to the new Kenyan government at independence in 1963.
The implication is that the current Kenyan government, as the successor to the British colonial administration, is liable for the alleged torture committed by the colonial regime.
Lawyers allege detainees suspected of being members or sympathisers of the Mau Mau rebellion were subjected to arbitrary killings and a catalogue of human rights abuses.
Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day & Co, said: "It is deeply disappointing that the British Government is refusing to deal with the substance of this case."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Because of the legal action, it would not be right to comment further on any particular aspects of this case."
Press Association
