Ngumbao Kithi And Elizabeth Awuor
9 November 2007
Nairobi — Two women wept as they gave evidence at a presidential committee investigating alleged deportation of Muslims to Ethiopia.
Ms Fatma Ahmed Chande, a Tanzanian married to a Kenyan, said she miscarried when anti-terrorism police arrested and interrogated her as she and others fled to Kenya from Somalia on January 6.
Her husband, Mr Salim Awadh Salim, was deported to Ethiopia and his whereabouts are not known.
"We were arrested and locked up at Kiunga police station for six days. Later, we were flown to Nairobi, where we were held in separate police stations, and then flown to Somalia," she said.
Chande claimed that from Somalia, she was flown to Tanzania.
"This incident took place when I was pregnant and due to police torture, I miscarried," she said.
Another witness, Ms Tatu Tondwe, told the committee that her son, Mr Abdalla Alfan Tondwe, 30, from Kwale, was arrested as he crossed to Kenya at Kiunga.
She claimed that he was flown to Nairobi from where he was deported to Somalia or Ethiopia.
She added that she had given the relevant documents to the authorities, but no action had been taken.
Another complainant, Mr Salmin Mohammed Hamisi, told the committee that he was arrested on January 6 and locked up at Kiunga police station. He was then flown to Nairobi, he said.
He was locked up for 27 days at Gigiri police station.
"They took away my documents and I have nothing to show that I am Kenyan. My efforts to get them back have been unsuccessful," he alleged. During the hearing, a Muslim leader, Sheikh Abu Bakari, accused the Government of being insecure in the quest to resolve the deportation of Muslims.
He said every effort had been done to inform the authorities that Kenyans had been denied their constitutional rights in vain.
"It is sad that the hall is empty because many Muslim are not aware of the hearing," he lamented.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The East African Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
