Suppression of media freedom

In Ethiopia, the government has been accused of stifling media freedom, under the excuse of fighting terrorism. Eskinder Nega, a prominent Ethiopian blogger and journalist was sentenced to 18 years in jail, for associating with Ginbot 7, a banned opposition group in the US. In 2014, nine journalists known as the Zone-9 bloggers, a social media activists group critical of the government, were arrested and charged with terrorism in April 2015.

Attacks on journalists

In Zimbabwe, independent journalists who are critical of the government have been arrested and intimidated under the guise of fighting terror. These attacks were described by the government spokesman as attacks on ‘supporters of terrorism’.

Repression of political opponents

The Egyptian government has on several occasions accused of using anti-terror law to torture political opponents and also carrying out summary trials in its military courts. Politicians and other people considered to have different views to those of the government have been silenced in the pretext that they planned to overthrow the government.

Extrajudicial killings

In 2013, the Kenyan anti-terrorism police unit was accused of extra-judicial killings by human rights groups. In Mombasa, a Kenyan coastal city with huge percentage of Muslims, incidents of arbitrary arrests and disappearances of terror suspects are widespread.

Illegal extraditions

In 2010, Muslim rights activists accused the Kenyan government of illegally extraditing four terror suspects to Uganda, following the July 11 twin terror attacks in Kampala. According to AP reports, the due extradition procedures were not followed by the government. Kenya has  also been accused of arresting suspected Somalia-based Al Shabaab sympathizers, illegally detaining and deporting them to Somalia.

Attacks on minority groups

Kenya police have been accused of targeting the Muslim community to be in their war against terror groups. Rights group Open Society Justice Initiative said police in the east African nation usually arbitrarily arrest and torture Kenyan Somalis and Somali refugees in North Eastern region. In 2012, Human Rights Watch said police  in the country perpetuated these abuses as they searched for terror suspects in the region.

Illegal police searches

Kenyan security agencies have been accused of forcibly gaining entry into suspects’ homes, and conducting searches, without showing their identification documents or the search warrants. In 2010, police forcibly entered the house of Idris Magondu in the middle of the night, in Kawangware slums, a neighborhood in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. They forced him and his wife to lie on the floor, as they conducted a search Idris Magondu, after they arrested him and took him to detention. They denied him a chance to see his lawyer. Days later, they extradited him to Uganda.

Torturing of suspects while in custody

Ugandan police have adversely been mentioned as key perpetrators of torture against detained terror suspects. According to reports by Open Society Justice Initiative, suspects were denied access to their lawyers, held in horribly overcrowded cells filled with fleas and lies and slept in handcuffs. They were at times denied food and water.

Arrests and Intimidations of human rights activists

People who sought to give legal assistance to terror suspects have been harassed and other denied entry into Uganda. The government warned that those considering helping the suspects to get legal support would be treated as terror suspects. In September 2012, Al-Amin Kimanthi, a Kenyan human rights activist was arrested and detained for a year by the Ugandan government.

Infringement on the freedom of expression

In 2015, Kenya’s High Court intervened to suspend clause in proposed anti-terror laws that would have given sweeping powers to the police and intelligence agencies to tap private communication. This would have led the police to tap emails and phone conversations, anytime they wished to do it, thus infringing on the freedom of expression.