Source:
The GuardianFour elderly Kenyans who claim they were tortured by colonial officials and soldiers during the Mau Mau insurgency in the 1950s have won the right to sue the British government for compensation.
Without deciding whether there had been systematic torture of detainees, the judge, Mr Justice McCombe, ruled they do have "arguable cases in law".
The decision is a setback for the Foreign Office, which has argued that the UK government should not be answerable for any abuses committed by the former British colony and that liability had devolved to the present Kenyan government.
Of the five original claimants, one has already died. The remaining four – Wambugu Wa Nyingi, Paulo Muoka Nzili, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua and Jane Muthoni Mara mostly in their 80s.
Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/21/mau-mau-torture-kenyans-compensation