Deported Kenyan lawyer gets ‘torture’ damages

A High Court judge in Kenya has ruled that deported lawyer and politician Miguna Miguna was tortured and treated inhumanely by state officials when they detained and forcibly removed him from the country earlier this year.

Mr Miguna, a fiery opposition politician, was first deported in February after taking part in the mock inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga as the “people’s president”.

Mr Odinga had refused to accept defeat in last year’s election.

Mr Miguna was deported for a second-time in March when he attempted to re-enter the country.

The government argued that Mr Miguna had lost Kenyan citizenship after he acquired a Canadian passport in the 1990s when he sought political asylum.

However, Judge Chacha Mwita ruled that Mr Miguna “was not an immigrant to Canada and therefore he could not lose Kenyan citizenship when he acquired Canadian citizenship”.

He ordered Interior Minister Fred Matiangi and the Permanent Secretary for Immigration Gordon Kihalangwa to pay ($68,000, £54,000) in damages and costs to Mr Miguna.

This, the judge said, was to deter future violations. BBC News