Kenyan court fines interior minister, security chiefs $2,000 for contempt

A Kenyan high court has fined interior minister, chiefs of police and immigration 200,000 Kenyan shillings ($2,000) for contempt of court over the detention and deportation of opposition politician Miguna Miguna.

High Court Judge George Odunga found Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Immigration chief Gordon Kihalang’wa and Police chief Joseph Boinnet in contempt of court on Wednesday and ordered the fine be deducted from their salaries next month, local media report.

The state officials were fined in absentia despite an order to appear in court on Thursday for sentencing. The court was filled with opposition supporters including opposition leader Raila Odinga who had reconciled with President Uhuru Kenyatta amid controversy.

The sentencing follows the second deportation of Miguna Miguna to Dubai after spending three days at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport where he was refused entry into Kenya despite a court order.

The immigration authority refused him entry and detained him in a disabled toilet at the airport, Miguna claimed. The media was not allowed to film the situation and the authorities refused to adhere to a court order to release him.

According to Miguna, he was dragged, assaulted and drugged during the forced deportation to Dubai and needs medical attention. “I’m sick. I need medical treatment…I need urgent help here,” he said in a Twitter post.

The ministry of interior said it will address the public on the issue on Thursday and had denied that Miguna was being held illegally but had failed to follow arrival procedures when he landed in Kenya.

Miguna’s woes started after he chaired the mock swearing-in of Raila Odinga as “people’s president” which resulted in the confiscation of his passport, arrest and treason charge, and subsequent deportation to Canada in February for having a Canadian citizenship, which the interior ministry claims he acquired after renouncing his Kenyan citizenship.