Among the clauses suspended is 12, 29, 48, 56, 58, 58. In his ruling, Justice George Odunga said that some of the clauses touch on fundamental issues in the bill of rights.
We can’t limit freedoms and rights in the pretext of fighting terrorism. That must be done within the confines of law - Justice Odunga said in his ruling.
Raila Odinga’s CORD Wins round 1 of the battle against Draconian security bill as 6 clauses are suspended.
Raila flew in from his rural home Oponda farm in Bondo cutting short his new year vacation to his team of lawyers and Kenyans of goodwill to witness ruling.
CLAUSES SUSPENDED
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• Clause 12 that inserts a new section into the Penal Code that targets citizen journalism and crowd sourced reporting.
• Clause 16, that along with Clauses 15-21, amend the Criminal Procedure Code to increase the hold of the carceral state, i.e permitting the police to hold arrested suspects longer than 24 hours.
• Clauses 26 and 29 of The Evidence Act that along Clauses
26-31, allows electronic messages and digital material to be
admissible as evidence in legal proceedings.
• Clause 48 of The Refugees Act, that along with Clauses 45-48, limits the number of refugees permitted to be in Kenya to 150,000 or a number to be determined by the legislature; restricting refugees’ freedom of movement, as they must now stay in camps, unless they receive permission to move out of those camps; and limiting the amount of time refugees might need to settle in—refugees must report to Kenyan authorities
immediately.
• Clauses 56 and 58 that amended the National Intelligence
Service Act by giving national intelligence agencies substantially more power to arrest suspects arbitrarily; enter into any residences and conduct arbitrary searches based on permission from the Director General; and, in general, violate many constitutional provisions that guarantee privacy and security of the person.
• Clause 64 of Prevention of Terrorism Act, that along with
Clauses 60-74 amend the Prevention of Terrorism Act. A few
highlights: 12D. A person who adopts or promotes an extreme belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious or social change commits an offence and is liable on conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding thirty years.
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