Amnesty International has condemned the attack on a Nairobi shopping centre by the Somali-based Islamist armed group Al-Shabaab.
In a statement, Amnesty Ireland executive director Colm O’Gorman described the attack and subsequent hostage-taking on Saturday 21 October as a blatant disregard for life and a despicable affront to basic human rights.
“We welcome President Uhuru Kenyatta’s commitment to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to account,” said O’Gorman, who also urged that any suspects arrested “should be brought to trial in line with international standards.”
Two days after the attack at the Westgate shopping centre in the suburb of Westlands, the death toll stood at 62 people including Kenyans, Britons, Canadians, Chinese and South Africans.
Among the dead are Ruhila Adatia-Sood, a well-known TV and radio presenter in Kenya who was six months’ pregnant with her first child; Mbugua Mwangi, son of Kenyan’s former Ambassador to Ireland Catherine Mwangi; and Mwangi’s fiancée Rosemary Wahito.
Prominent Ghanaian poet and former diplomat Dr Kofi Awoonor – on whose behalf Amnesty International campaigned against politically motivated trial in the mid-1970s – was also killed.
In an address to the nation on the day of the attack, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he would do everything possible to fight terrorism in the country.
“I ask God to give you comfort as you confront this tragedy, and I know what you feel having also lost very close family members in this deadly attack,” he said.
It is believed that President Kenyatta’s elder sister Christine Wambui Pratt, who was also at the Westgate Centre, escaped unharmed.
