A Kenyan, suspected to have been involved in the July 11, 2010 Kampala bombings, has launched torture proceedings against the British and American governments in a UK court.
Omar Awadh Omar alleges that he was physically abused both by British and American interrogators after being arrested in Kenya on September 17, 2010 and driven across the border to Uganda.
The proceedings have been filed in the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court in the United Kingdom William Hague, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs listed as the defendant.
Awadh claims that he was verbally abused, threatened with transfer to Guantanamo Bay, repeatedly pushed around, slapped, kicked, prevented from eating or praying, punched so hard he suffered kidney damage and threatened with serious sexual assault.
Public Interest Lawyers, representing Awadh and other Kampala bombings suspects, say that Awadh was first abducted in Nairobi by the Kenyan Anti Terror Police Unit before being handed over to the Ugandan Rapid Response Unit. He was later said to have been subjected to a terrifying series of interrogations by a team of American and British agents for 21 days.
Tessa Gregory, solicitor at Public Interest Lawyers said in a press release that the case raises grave concerns about the conduct of UK security services overseas.
“Our client was unlawfully rendered, detained in appalling conditions and subjected to cruel and unlawful treatment by MI5, FBI and Ugandan agents,” said Mr. Gregory.
According to Rabia Mohamed, Omar Awadh Omar’s wife, Awath has been subjected to physical, emotional and psychological torture which has terribly affected her and their three children.
In a statement sent to newsrooms, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Hassan Omar Hassan has called upon the government to ensure that the rights of any of its citizens are not violated.
“No government or leader that swears to uphold and protect the sanctity of the Constitution and by extension its citizens can be so reckless and carefree as to expose and/or conspire the violation of its citizens,” said Mr. Hassan.
Before his arrest, Awadh, 37, was a car dealer and human rights activist. He was charged with being present at a meeting in which plans were drawn up to mount two suicide bomb attacks at a restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala, where crowds would be watching the football World Cup final.
The attacks claimed at least 76 people and injured more than 70. Responsibility was later claimed by al-Shabab, the Somali militant group.
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