(NDIMA/IFEX) – On 4 September 2001, prison authorities at King’ong’o prison in Nyeri District, in Kenya’s Central Province, prevented journalists from covering the hearing of a case against the only survivor of an incident in which six inmates died. The visit to the prison came during the first anniversary of the incident in which six […]
(NDIMA/IFEX) – On 4 September 2001, prison authorities at King’ong’o prison in Nyeri District, in Kenya’s Central Province, prevented journalists from covering the hearing of a case against the only survivor of an incident in which six inmates died. The visit to the prison came during the first anniversary of the incident in which six death-row convicts died, on 4 September 2000.
The six journalists, who had accompanied the trial magistrate, were escorted out of the prison at noon as they attempted to get to the venue of the open court. The warders said they had been instructed by Provincial Prison Officer Munene Gacharia not to allow the journalists in the compound. There was tension at the entrance to the cells as the warders tried to force the press out.
The warders escorted the journalists to the prison’s main entrance, with one of them warning that he could shoot them dead and no action would be taken against him.
The journalists had gone to cover the hearing of a case in which Benard Kimathi M’Mwirichia is charged with escaping from jail.
