Get Involved

Finance and Operations Director - Fahamu

Fahamu is seeking an experienced Finance and Operations Director to manage the organisation's finance and operations team.
This role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya but will have a remit covering the whole of Fahamu's pan-African programmes with offices in Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and UK.
The deadline for applications is February 10, 2012.

Download job description (Word)
Download application form (Word)

Dust From Our Eyes
An Unblinkered Look at Africa
Joan Baxter

Joan Baxter eloquently exposes the diversity of Africa, the injustices Africans have faced and the strengths that have helped them weather adversity. She erodes the tired stereotypes of the western media and provides compelling evidence of the need for westerners to scrutinise their own countries' policies at home and abroad.

Buy now from Pambazuka Press

Latest titles from Pambazuka Press

From Citizen to Refugee

Uganda Asians come to Britain
Mahmood Mamdani
'On the face of it, life in the camp presented a sharp and favourable contrast to the open terror of living in Uganda. But it was the Kensington camp, and not Amin's Uganda, which was my first experience of what it would be like to live in a totalitarian society.' Mahmood Mamdani
Buy now

African Awakening

The Emerging Revolutions
The tumultuous uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have seized the attention of media but what about the rest of Africa? With incisive contributions from across the continent, "African Awakening" presents the 2011 uprisings in their African context.
Buy now

Demystifying Aid

Yash Tandon

This pamphlet from Pambazuka Press shows that 'development aid' is not what it purports to be - the effects of actions of well-meaning allies in the North who support aid to Africa for reasons of ethics or solidarity are, unfortunately, the opposite of their good intentions.
Buy now

To Cook a Continent

Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa
Nnimmo Bassey
Exploiting Africa's resources has delivered huge profits to the North and huge damage to Africa's environment and economies. Overcoming the crises of environment and climate change means also addressing corporate profiteering and resource extraction.
Buy now

Earth Grab

Geopiracy, the New Biomassters and Capturing Climate Genes
Diana Bronson, Hope Shand, Jim Thomas, Kathy Jo Wetter
As greedy eyes focus on the global South's resources this book 'pulls back the curtain on disturbing technological and corporate trends that are already reshaping our world and that will become crucial battlegrounds for civil society in the years ahead.
Buy now

Pambazuka News Broadcasts

Pambazuka broadcasts feature audio and video content with cutting edge commentary and debate from social justice movements across the continent.

See the list of episodes.

AU MONITOR

This site has been established by Fahamu to provide regular feedback to African civil society organisations on what is happening with the African Union.

Perspectives on Emerging Powers in Africa: December 2011 newsletter

Deborah Brautigam provides an overview and description of China's development finance to Africa. "Looking at the nature of Chinese development aid - and non-aid - to Africa provides insights into China's strategic approach to outward investment and economic diplomacy, even if exact figures and strategies are not easily ascertained", she states as she describes China's provision of grants, zero-interest loans and concessional loans. Pambazuka Press recently released a publication titled India in Africa: Changing Geographies of Power, and Oliver Stuenkel provides his review of the book.
The December edition available here.

The 2010 issues: September, October, November, December, and the 2011 issues: January, February, March , April, May , June , July , August , September, October and November issues are all available for download.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Action alerts

Bringing home Kenya’s Abdulmalik Mohamed from Guantánamo Bay

Help the prisoner, help the president

Reprieve and the Muslim Human Rights Forum (Kenya)

2009-02-12, Issue 419

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/54035

Printer friendly version

On Monday 9 February Reprieve (UK) and the Muslim Human Rights Forum (Kenya) released a report on Abdulmalik Mohamed, the Kenyan detained at Guantánamo Bay. The report is supplied here together with a press release urging the Kenyan government to do the right thing and appeal to the US government on Abdulmalik's behalf. Reprieve and the Muslim Human Rights Forum appeal to you to lend your voice to the calls for the return to Kenya of Abdulmalik and the upholding of his legal and human rights.

Reprieve calls on the Kenyan government to do the right thing by two of its sons: Guantánamo Bay prisoner Abdulmalik Mohamed and US President Barack Obama.

In a report released today, Reprieve and the Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF) reveal details of how Kenyan citizen Abdulmalik was kidnapped by his own government and abandoned in Guantánamo Bay.

America's half-Kenyan President Barack Obama has vowed to close the notorious prison, but he cannot do it alone. Kenya must take responsibility for its wronged citizen Abdulmalik and bring him home.

Reprieve and MHRF's report describes how:

- Abdulmalik was seized in Kenya by his own government and handed over to the US military with no judicial process and zero evidence against him.
- After being handed to US personnel in Kenya, Abdulmalik was ‘rendered’ to a US secret prison in Djibouti, now the temporary headquarters of the US military ‘Africa Command’. Abdulmalik was later taken to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, and an unidentified secret prison in Kabul. Finally, Abdulmalik was brought to Guantánamo Bay, where he has been held for two years without charge and without being shown any evidence against him.
- Kenya has since denied that Abdulmalik is a Kenyan citizen, and denied any involvement in his kidnapping. Both these denials are shown to be false.

BACKGROUND

Kenyan citizen Abdulmalik Mohamed is a 35-year-old father of three, currently held by the US Military at Guantánamo Bay.

Abdulmalik was seized by Kenyan police in Mombasa in February 2007 and held for two weeks in various Kenyan police stations. The Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit found there was no evidence linking Abdulmalik to any crimes, but he was not set free.

Instead, one night Kenyan authorities drove Abdulmalik to an airport and handed him, with no form of judicial process, to US military personnel.

This was the beginning of Abdulmalik's punishing journey through secret US prisons in Djibouti, Afghanistan and finally Guantánamo Bay.

Abdulmalik has been held in Guantánamo Bay since March 2007, and to date he has been given no legal opportunity to challenge his imprisonment – or even been told the official allegations against him.

Back home, the Kenyan government has tried to avoid responsibility, at times claiming that Abdulmalik is not Kenyan.

This is false. Dozens of people, including his father and the midwife who delivered him – in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria – stand witness to his Kenyan birth and heritage.

The Kenyan government has denied its involvement in Abdulmalik's illegal transfer out of Kenya, through Djibouti and Afghanistan, to Guantánamo Bay.

This is false. The US Ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, confirmed on Kenyan radio that Abdulmalik was ‘moved to Guantánamo Bay with the full consent of the Kenyan government… [as] part of collaboration between the two governments to fight global terrorism.’[1]

Kenyan authorities handed Abdulmalik to the US government. They have a responsibility to bring him back.

President Barack Obama has promised to close Guantánamo Bay. The Kenyan government has an opportunity to directly assist, by taking responsibility for its own citizen and bringing Abdulmalik home.

Until then, Abdulmalik will remain imprisoned in Guantánamo, without charges or a chance to defend himself. His family wait for him to return to Kenya.

Reprieve is a British legal action charity. Reprieve uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. We investigate, litigate and educate. Working on the frontline, we provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves, promoting the rule of law around the world, and securing each person's right to a fair trial. In doing so, we save lives.

MHRF is a Kenyan civil society organisation that directly assists victims of illegal imprisonment and other crimes committed in the name of the ‘War on Terror’. MHRF is a frontline organisation that works with lawyers and researchers around the world to provide assistance to prisoners held ‘beyond the rule of law’, and to seek accountability for their suffering.

COMMENT

Reprieve investigator Clara Gutteridge, Legal Director Zachary Katznelson, and MHRF Director Al-Amin Kimathi are available for comment.

The full report: 'Goodbye to Africa' is available on request. Please contact Communications Manager Katherine O'Shea on +44 20 74271099 or email katherine.oshea@reprieve.org.uk, or Al-Amin Kimathi on +254 (0)721-324186 or +254 (0)733 999 654.

* Reprieve (PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS, tel: 020 7353 4640, fax: 020 7353 4641, email: info@reprieve.org.uk, website: www.reprieve.org.uk).
* Muslim Human Rights Forum (PO Box 62755 – 00200, Nelleon Place, Rhapta Road, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya, tel: 445445, 353 7836, 357 3644, email: hakimhrf@gmail.com.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

[1] George Munyori, ‘US Defends Transfer of Terror Suspect to Guantanamo Bay’, CapitalFM.co.ke (29 March 2007).

Readers' Comments

Let your voice be heard. Comment on this article.

↑ back to top

Subscribe for Free!

Donate to Pambazuka News!