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| NEWS > 22 January 2007 |
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Kenyans hold police responsibl
MATHARE, Kenya: Residents along this slum's smoky, twisting alleys say they're caught in the middle of a battle between the police and a murderous street gang known for beheading its victims.
A report by the state-funded human rights commission on Monday linked police to the deaths of over 450 young Kenyans in the past five months in a crackdown on the gang, known as Mungiki. Police denied involvement, but slum dwellers backed the commission in interviews Tuesday.
"People were arrested in a crackdown against (Mungiki) and have never been found. Relatives say they disappea... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Times Online - UK
22 January 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Parliament Square protester wi
An anti-war protester who has maintained a permanent vigil outside the Houses of Parliament for more than five and a half years today won a legal battle to continue his demonstration.
Brian Haw, 57, whose protest has been in place since June 2001, was cleared of breaching the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Act when appearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court today.
Police had swooped on his prominent Parliament Square demonstration on May 23 last year and seized dozens of placards which officers claimed were bigger than three metres in height, three metres in width and one metre in depth, which is the maximum amount stipulated by the Act. The placards seized amounted to 90 per cent of the material he uses in his protest.
Officers also claimed a bomb could easily have been placed inside that material and Mr Haw had failed to supervise it with "diligence and care".
But speaking in court today, District Judge Quentin Purdy ruled that the police's case was invalid because, under the terms of the Act, only the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, could impose conditions on demonstrations and not an officer of lower rank. When police swooped on Mr Haw's protest, it was Superintendent Peter Terry, the operational commander at Charing Cross Police Station, who ordered the confiscations.
Mr Purdy added that the conditions in the Act also lacked clarity, so could not be enforced.
"I find the Commissioner cannot delegate his powers under the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Act as he purported to do," Mr Purdy told the court.
"Additionally I find the conditions drafted as they are lack clarity and are not workable in their current form."
He added: "Therefore I uphold the submission of no case to answer and dismiss this summons."
After today's hearing, Mr Haw said he hoped police would now give him back the placards officers initially confiscated.
"We won as we should have done because it was wrong and the police were wrong," he said.
"I should now get my property back which was taken as evidence - 40-odd metres of images of torture and genocide which had been was displayed in front of Parliament.
"I am a peaceful person. These conditions were absolutely incredible - just ridiculous."
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