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| Kenyans May Be in Cuban, Pakistani Jails, Say Officials |
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27/10/2008
By David Ochami
Seven Kenyans could be in Cuban and Pakistani jails, according to lawyers and Kenyans recently released from Ethiopia’s jails.
It also emerged that Abdulmalik Muhamad, the Kenyan held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since last year, has been moved from solitary confinement to a general prison, indicating he might be freed soon, according to his lawyers.
"He (Muhamad) has attested there were other Kenyans in these jails," said a statement attributed to a UK organisation fighting US supported renditions.
The prisoners include Hussein Ali Said Nasru Tuko and Abdikadir Muhamad Aden deported from Kenya between January 20 and February 10, last year, alongside 152 prisoners from 25 countries.
Safe somewhere
The organisations disclosed two other Kenyans held by Anti-Terror Police since last year escaped from jail and were safe in an undisclosed country.
"We demand a full disclosure on the whereabouts of these seven Kenyans because they were on the plane that forcibly deported more than 100 people from Kenya to Somalia and Ethiopia," said Al Amin Kimathi, the executive director of Muslim Human Rights Forum on behalf of Reprieve, a UK organisation representing Abdulmalik, Independent Medical Legal Unit, Haki Focus and the Muslim Leaders Forum at Jamia Mosque in Nairobi, on Sunday.
The organisations paraded eight Kenyans recently released from Ethiopian jails after Kenya and the Addis Ababa regime accused them of terrorist links with Al Qaeda early last year.
Injuries from evaluation
IMLU’s director Sam Muhochi said the former detainees, some on crutches, had physical and psychological injuries following general and psychiatric evaluation by experts.
Salim Awadh Salim, a former detainee claimed Kenya prolonged their stay at Janmada prison in Addis Ababa after telling the Ethiopian regime "we were not Kenyans".
Quoting Abdulmalik’s lawyer Clara Gutterfield, Kimathi said the Kenyan has provided new information about his arrest and deportation, exposing Kenya’s role in his transfer to Guantanamo through detention facilities in Djibouti, Bagram Airbase and Kabul in Afghanistan.
"We now have information Abdulmalik was moved to Camp 4, which is less guarded. Initially he was in solitary confinement. This means he could be on his way out."
The official correspondence between the Kenyan and his UK lawyer indicates Abdulmalik’s American jailers had disproved Kenyan claims linking him to terror.
SOURCE: Eastandard.net
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