Outlawed Press

Apparently the police have raided the 2nd largest newspaper here in Kenya, arresting journalists and burning today's edition after the paper alleged the president and one of his fiercest opponents had a secret meeting three days ago. While I personally feel safe after this atrocious incident, I do not think this attack bodes well for the freedom of the press - let alone speech - in this country.

Police shut down Standard, KTN
Story by ERIC SHIMOLI and DOMINIC WABALA
Publication Date: 3/2/2006

Armed and hooded police this morning raided the headquarters and printing plant of the Standard Group.
They burnt copies of the newspaper and shut down the media group's 24-hours television station KTN. An estimated 30 policemen armed with AK-47 assault rifles first stormed the Standard's headquarters at the I&M building, in Nairobi city centre, at 12.30am, before another squad swooped on the company’s printing plant in Likoni Road, in the industrial area, and burnt the day’s newspapers which were just rolling off the presses.

BLAZE: Copies of today's Standard go up in flames after being set on fire by police in the compound of the company's printing plant at Likoni Road, Nairobi early today. Photo by Joseph Mathenge

The raids were carried out by a rapid response unit code-named the Kanga Squad, detectives from Nairobi provincial CID headquarters and officers from the General Service Unit.

They were under the command of Mr James Njiru, the officer in charge of operations at the provincial CID headquarters. The elite Kanga Squad was formed by the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Joseph Kamau, specifically to fight hardcore criminals like carjackers, bank robbers and murder hit squads.

The raids follow a running dispute between the media house and the Government over a story in the Saturday Standard alleging President Kibaki had held a secret meeting with one of his fiercest critics, former Cabinet minister Kalonzo Musyoka. Both State House and Mr Musyoka denied the story and demanded apologies from the newspaper.

Read the article in its entirety here.