20110420 - Afran Kenya

The East African Community secretariat should address the handling over of seven Kenyans to Uganda and the continued detention of human rights activist Sheikh Al'Amin Kimathi in that country, Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo has said.

The secretariat should also be asked to investigate Uganda's "blatant violation of the East African Community treaty" in last week's detention and eventual expulsion of Mr Hassan Omar Hassan from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the minister said.

Mr Hassan was among four Kenyans who were arrested and deported from Uganda last week as they headed to a meeting with Uganda Chief Justice.

He admitted that the rendetion of Kenyans to Uganda was illegal and said it was "outrageous and unacceptable for a friendly country to treat the commissioner the way it did".

Failure to get an explanation from the Ugandan government or the EAC on the rendetion and the detention, he said, should be necessitate the filing of a case at the East African Court of Justice. The court would then address the matters of "compensation, repatriation and welfare" of the detained Kenyans.

Sheikh Al'Amin, the executive coordinator of the Human Rights Forum, is among eight Kenyans being held in Uganda over their alleged connection to twin bombings in Kambala on July 11, 2010.