KEN 002 / 0808 / OBS 135
Summoning/ Intimidation
Kenya
August 14, 2008
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Kenya.
The Observatory has been informed by the Kenyan Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) that Dr. Walter Wekesa Nalianya, who participated in documenting human rights violations in Mount Elgon Hospital Kitale (Western Province of Kenya) in regard to Mount Elgon torture cases[1], was summoned by police early on 14 August 2008.
According to the information received, Dr. Wekesa Nalianya, a registered doctor with the Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board (registration number A. 4018) practising at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, was summoned by police and taken to Kakamega’s Provincial Criminal Investigation Office (PCIO), where he is currently being interrogated. The police allege that Dr. Wekesa Nalianya is not registered under private practice and thus ought not to have documented the Mount Elgon torture allegations.
Dr. Wekesa Nalianya reportedly documented human rights violations in Mount Elgon Hospital Kitale for the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights’ (KNCHR) report, which was released in May 2008. He has also actively collaborated with IMLU, a registered NGO working for the rights of torture victims in Kenya, on examining torture cases.
The Observatory expresses its deep concern about the summoning and interrogation of Dr. Wekesa Nalianya and fears that these acts are only intended to intimidate and prevent him from carrying out his human rigths activities.
The Observatory also recalls that according to Article 12.2 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”.
Please write to the Kenyan authorities, urging them to:
Embassy of Kenya in Brussels, 208 av. W. Churchill, 1180 Uccle, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 340 10 50 / + 32 2 340 10 68. Email: kenbrussels@hotmail.com
Please also write to the embassies of Kenya in your respective countries.
Geneva - Paris, August 14, 2008
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH: +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax: OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
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