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Dog’s life: Miguna speaks out from ‘tiny, filthy toilet’ at JKIA


Self-declared National Resistance Movement (NRM) ‘general’ Miguna Miguna says he is leading a dog’s life in police detention at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

The lawyer, who landed on Monday afternoon, has been denied entry into Kenya despite two court orders directing his return after he was illegally deported to Canada.

In a statement, Dr Miguna on Wednesday said police had locked him “inside a tiny and filthy toilet without access to basic hygiene and necessities of life”.

The Nation could not immediately confirm his allegations because police have since blocked lawyers and journalists from accessing him.

“The respondents haven’t provided me with food, water and medical attention in addition to not according me my right to counsel,” he said.

The room near Terminal 2, he claims, is uninhabitable.

NO BATHTUB

“I have no access to a bathroom and I have not taken a shower since Sunday, March 25th. The toilet where I am being held has no shower or bathtub,” he says in the statement.

“There is only hot water in the toilet, hence, I am also unable to wash my face and brush my teeth.”

The lawyer condemned his continued detention by the people he termed “despots”.

Justice Roselyn Aburili on Tuesday ordered Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Director of Immigration Gordon Kihalangwa, and Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinett to release the lawyer and present him in court on Wednesday morning.

Other officials targeted by the court order are Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, head of the Flying Squad Said Kiprotich, the OCPD for JKIA, and the Attorney-General.

“Despite the court order, and as they have done consistently before, the respondents have not released me,” Dr Miguna says.

“They have locked out my lawyers from accessing me since my illegal detention last evening. They also unsuccessfully attempted to evade service of the court order.”

He accused the government and security officials of attacking and terrorising him at the airport.

PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED ME

“In full view of the media, and therefore the entire world, the respondents physically assaulted me, tore my clothes, refused to allow me to re-enter Kenya,” he says.

“(They) abducted me and attempted to force me to fly out to Dubai without any documentation whatsoever.”

He said he would continue resisting government’s efforts to see him enter Kenya as a “foreigner on a conditional visa”.

“I wish to make it clear that I will not permit the respondents to continue violating my constitutional and legal rights through arbitrary bureaucratic fiats,” he said.

“I urge Kenyans to strongly resist the increasing authoritarianism by the Jubilee regime and to join forces with the National Revolutionary Movement (NRM) against what is clearly a desperate attempt to establish a party dictatorial state”.