Koigi wa Wamwere, a human rights activist and former member of parliament, his brother Charles Kuria Wamwere, his cousin James Maigwa and G G Njuguna Ngengi, a local councillor, are being tried on charges of attempted robbery with violence. If convicted, they face mandatory death sentences. AI believes that the charges against them are false and that all four are prisoners of conscience. Their trial appears to be part of a pattern of harassment of those who have been attempting to investigate or report incidents of political violence in the Rift Valley and other parts of Kenya. AI is concerned at the apparent abuse of the so-called “Hanging” law and the arbitrary detention of political prisoners, some of whom may be prisoners of conscience. AI is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the four men named above.
