TO STAY IN PLACE

High Court declines to suspend nationwide curfew

Judge Korir prohibits police from using excessive force during the curfew.

In Summary

• Justice Weldon Korir ordered Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to publish guidelines on the conduct of police during curfew within the next 48 hours.

• He has directed the Law Society of Kenya to serve the petition to respondents.

Mombasa residents rounded up before the start of the curfew on March 27, 2020.
Mombasa residents rounded up before the start of the curfew on March 27, 2020.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI

The High Court has declined to suspend the ongoing night curfew.

However, Justice Weldon Korir on Monday ordered Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to publish guidelines on the conduct of police during curfew within the next 48 hours.

The guidelines should be published in major daily newspapers of national circulation.

 
 

Judge Korir has also prohibited the police from using excessive force during the curfew.

He has directed the Law Society of Kenya to serve the petition to respondents.

The case will be mentioned on April 2 via online.

The LSK had earlier on Monday moved to court seeking to suspend the night curfew imposed by the state.

They argued that the curfew is unconstitutional and the excessive use of force on Kenyans to enforce the curfew is illegal.

However, LSK wanted the review of the time extending the time of the start of the curfew from 7 pm to 10 pm, if the court declined to suspend the curfew.

LSK President Nelson Havi last Friday said the penalty for contravening a curfew is a fine of not more than Sh1,000 or imprisonment for not more than three months, or to both and thus the action of police officers amounted to aggravated assault.

Havi called on members of the public should document all incidences of aggravated assault by the police and forward the same to the Law Society of Kenya.


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