Philip Muyanga And Fred Mukinda
5 October 2008
Nairobi — People suspected to be intelligence agents but posing as journalists were the first to interview eight Kenyans released from Ethiopia shortly after they landed at Voi.
After answering questions about their ordeal in jail, the police escorted the men, labelled by Government as terror suspects, to their homes.
The night operation was calculated to ensure all the suspects would have been safely received by relatives by the time the news was broken in the media.
The eight were released from prison in Addis Ababa on Friday and driven 770 kilometres to the Moyale border point where Ethiopian officers handed them over.
Fractured leg
"They had handcuffed us until we complained and an officer removed the handcuffs," said Mr Salim Awadh Salim.
The group arrived at Moyale in the morning and was then flown to Voi by helicopter. "Some people claiming to be journalists then interviewed us on what had transpired in Ethiopia," said Mr Salim.
Another suspect, Mr Swaleh Ali Tunza, 40, a teacher who was arrested on January 11 last year, is at Mewa hospital with a fractured leg. He claimed he was beaten by prison officers.
He said that he was not treated for the injuries he sustained after the beating. "I was a Madrassa teacher in Mokowe, when I was arrested and taken to Ethiopia on February 17 last year."
He said life in Ethiopian cells was difficult due to constant harassment and the language barrier. Mr Tunza claimed that at the time of his arrest, police officers took Sh10,000, $500, his passport and national identity card.
Mr Abdallah Khalfan Tondwe, 32, said he was disappointed with the way the Government treated them.
"Why did they have to send us to a foreign country?" asked a bitter Mr Tondwe. He said he went to Somalia after getting a contract to build a house and has never been involved in terrorist activities.
The eight terror suspects denied claims that they claimed they were not Kenyans at the time of their arrest. "They took our identification documents to portray us as foreigners," said Mr Tondwe.
Meanwhile, Muslim leaders claim 19 Kenyans are still missing despite the arrival of the eight.
The National Muslim Leaders Forum (Namlef) said it was concerned by the Government's decision to allow the freed men to mingle with society while insisting they are Al-Qaeda operatives.
"If these people are guilty, the Government need not fear to arrest and take them to court.
"What logic is there to bring them back to Kenya and action is not taken? Does is not pose a danger to other Kenyans?" asked the organisation's chairman Abdullahi Abdi.
He demanded that the missing people be brought home "dead or alive."
"They were not eight but 27 Kenyans who were taken out of the country illegally, and if they are dead we want their bodies brought to the country," he said.
The organisation also demanded that another Kenyan who was transferred to the US-run Guatanamo Bay penitentiary in Cuba be returned and tried locally.
The Government, however, said "appropriate action" is pending, without elaborating. Mr Abdi said the whole saga had embarrassed Kenya and demanded a formal apology from the Government.
Government had denied that renditions took place when the matter was first raised last year.
The Muslim leaders held a meeting at Nairobi's Jamia Mosque and resolved to go to court and seek compensation on behalf of the eight men.
"We will sue the Government so that these people can be compensated," said Mr Abdi.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. 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.
