Embu court acquits 13 Ethiopians, orders they be helped to secure asylum

An Embu court has acquitted 13 Ethiopian nationals who were arrested and prosecuted on September 19, 2021 for being in the country illegally.

Appearing before Senior Principal Magistrate Henry Nyakwemba, the 13 aliens were acquitted of charges leveled against them.

Magistrate Nyakwemba ruled that they were not guilty, citing that they had only fled from Ethiopia due to the ongoing civil war and were looking for asylum.

He termed the process of arrest and prosecution by police officers as uncalled for, noting that the cops ought to have instead assisted them due to the happenings in their country.

The magistrate hence ordered all the accused persons to be taken to the immigration offices in Nairobi for assessment and their asylum request determined.

The defendants’ lawyer Faisak Hussein Swalleh said justice for his clients had finally been served since they were not criminals but were only in the country having fled civil war.

Hussein noted that the ruling would be used as precedent, calling for a review of some laws which criminalize aliens who occasionally visit the country looking for asylum due to civil wars and catastrophe.

He said that they ought not to be arrested in the first place but should be aided to seek asylum or helped in transiting to any other country if the Kenyan government refuses to accommodate them.

Hussein has since called upon other courts with similar cases to follow Magistrate Nyakwemba’s footsteps in helping the aliens seek asylum.