Court orders security agencies to produce 65-year-old herder abducted in police custody
The court heard that Muhumed was abducted on October 4, 2024 from Garsen Police Station where he had been detained for unknown reasons
The High Court has ordered security agencies to produce in court a 65-year-old herder who was allegedly abducted from a police station over four months ago.
Malindi High Court Judge Justice Mugure Thande ordered the Garsen Officer Commanding Station (OCS) in conjunction with other security agencies to produce Abdullahi Ahmed Muhumed in court on March 11.
The OCS has also been ordered to appear in person to explain the disappearance of Muhumed from the station.
The court heard that Muhumed was abducted on October 4, 2024 from Garsen Police Station where he had been detained for unknown reasons.
The case filed under certificate of urgency by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) through lawyer Bernard Obae was scheduled to be heard on March 11.
Urging the judge to grant the orders for production of Muhumed, Obae said the family of the herder is undergoing a hard time and suffering mental anguish.
“The applicant herein was allegedly kidnapped/ abducted in broad-day light on October 5, 2024, from Garsen Police Station, Tana River County in the presence of the Deputy OCS among other police officers by individuals in civilian clothes,” Obae told the judge in a virtual hearing on February 26,2025.
The lawyer further disclosed, “the abductees sped off from the police in a double cabin pick-up registration number KCU 576U.”
He submitted before the judge that after the ordeal, nobody has accounted for the whereabouts of Muhumed.
The judge was further informed the brother of the victim Dayo Ahmed Mohamed and a son of the abducted herder-Yunus Abdullahi reported the incident at Garseb Police Station vide OB No/2/05/10/2024.
“That hitherto the whereabouts of Muhumed remains unknown and unaccounted for and there is reasonable fear that he was abducted by officers attached to the national security agencies who have refused the family of the victim to visit him in custody,” Justice Thande heard.
Justice Thande also heard the security agencies have refused to arraign the herder in court.
In a supporting affidavit to the court case, a nephew to the victim Said Ibrahim has disclosed that Muhumed was walking home from Garsen Township in the company Mohamed Sheikh and Ibrahim Osman when he was summoned by a male uniformed police officer who was manning the entrance to Garsen Police Station.
Ibrahim says his uncle was led to the reception of the police station where he sat.
“After a few minutes, a Toyota Hilux Double Cabin KCU 576U silver in colour approached the entrance of the police station. The police officer who summoned Muhumed opened the gate and pointed to the direction of the reception,” Ibrahim states in his 15-paragraph affidavit filed at the High Court.
The nephew discloses that three stone-faced men in civilian clothes asked at the reception “who is Abdullahi Ahmed Muhumed?”
Muhumed lifted up his right hand for recognition, Ibrahim states.
Justice Thande heard that the gun trotting men pounced on Muhumed, roughed him and frogmarched him to the waiting double-cabin.
Ibrahim says efforts to reach Muhumed through his mobile have become futile.
The judge heard that efforts to get information from the OCS Garsen have been unfruitful. However, the family was granted audience by the Deputy OCS who “asked them to be calm as Muhumed would be joining them soon.”
The nephew says days have turned into months and Muhumed is nowhere to be found.
Mr Obae submitted that the abduction of Muhumed has caused pain, anguish and despair to his family.
The LSK and Obae state in the application that the incident has caused a huge public outcry in Tana River County.
Obae says the absurd actions by the political class and a section of the security agencies is causing untold suffering to the nation as nobody is safe since top security personnel say they “do not know who is abducting innocent citizens.”
Obae stated that the constitutional rights of Muhumed to freedom of movement have been curtailed.
The judge allowed an order of habeas corpus as sought by LSK and Obae compelling police to produce
Muhumed in court.
Justice Thande ordered Obae to serve the petition to the Attorney General who acts for the government.
LSK is also urging the court to compel Safaricom to assist in giving information about the location of Muhumed through its tracking systems.
The case will be heard on March 11,2025.
