The Kenyan government has ordered that news agency Al Jazeera be investigated and face possible charges, over the network’s recent report alleging that the Kenyan police had been running death squads, with the knowledge of Western powers.
The Al Jazeera documentary, Inside Kenya’s Death Squads, asserted that the most high-profile assassinations were aimed at Muslim leaders, including those with links to the al-Shabab militant group and that Western intelligence agencies provided some of the information needed to carry out the killings.
The controversy comes just as Kenyan lawmakers in the country’s National Assembly are fiercely debating new security laws, which include proposals to limit picketing and holding public meetings.
The twitter feed of Kenya’s Interior CNG Ministry has promoted a hashtag #SecuringKenya, and responded to the Al Jazeera documentary in a series of tweets:
Govt has instructed relevant authorities to begin investigations with a view to bringing charges against those involved in…cont’d.
…Aljazeera documentary..
The documentary was deliberately planned & aired at a time when Kenya is seeking support to strengthen it’s war against terror.. cont’d
Cont’d through legislative reforms.
The tone & subjective nature of the documentary was deliberately skewed to support & empathise with terrorists & their sympathisers cont’d..
cont’d…without any consideration for the hundreds of innocent Kenyans who have died in the hands of terrorists.
The timing of the documentary is also suspicious & appears meant to derail KE’s efforts to fight terrorism.
Three Al Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, have been jailed by Egyptian authorities for almost a year.