This archive report was first published on 29 November 2019.
On November 29, 2019, the Mombasa High Court declined to award Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI) Sh2.1 million in damages in a defamation suit against the government for linking it to the al-Shabaab terror group.
Justice Dorah Chepkwony ruled that the suit was time-barred, wondering why the organisation failed to file it within 12 months.
“This court has not been furnished with any reason explaining why MUHURI failed to institute the suit within 12 months,” said Justice Chepkwony.
MUHURI had sued the state for linking it to the al-Shabaab terror group after the government proceeded to gazette it and other 13 entities as outlawed entities suspected to be funding Al-Shabaab in 2015.
Following the massacre of 147 students at Garissa University, the government ordered for the freezing of the accounts of MUHURI and other entities.
However, the organisation was later cleared by the High Court and proceeded to sue the government for defaming the organisation and linking it to crime leading to loss of reputation and financial ruin.
Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga defended MUHURI as a lawful group while testifying in court, stating that he was shocked to learn that the organisation he founded 21 years ago was being associated with terrorism.
Human rights activist Maina Kiai, a board member of MUHURI, told the High Court in Mombasa that he suffered stigmatisation and financial embarrassment after the organisation was linked to Al-Shabaab terror group.
