Human rights abuses of Muslim minority in Mombasa, Kenya

Abstract

Despite Constitutional guarantees, human rights of Muslim minorities in Kenya are being infringed upon by government security agents. This study examines the actual forms human rights violations havetaken place against Muslim minorities in Kenya, in particular Muslims in Mombasa city after 9/11. It further examines the reasons why Muslims in Kenya and Mombasa in particular become the victims of these human rights violations. This study is based upon documentary sources, a series of unstructured interviews with community leaders, defense lawyers, human rights activists and members of human rights organizations. The study found human rights abuses against the Muslim communities in Mombasa after 9/11 being unprecedented. It has taken such forms as, extra-judicial executions of Muslim clerics and activists, forceful disappearances of Muslim terror suspects, arbitrary arrests, raids conducted particularly of Muslim homes, and closing down of mosques in Mombasa by police. Muslim Kenyans are suffering in the hands of the special police unit known as Anti-Terrorist Police Unit (ATPU). Since its creation in 2003, this counter-terrorism branch reportedly committed gross human rights abuses that violated international, regional and domestic laws.