3 refugees jailed for 1 year

Three refugees have been sentenced to one-year imprisonment or a fine of 50 thousand shillings in a Wajir court for being in the country illegally.

Wajir Magistrate Enock Cherono ordered that the three, a somali and two Ethiopians to be imprisoned or pay a fine before being returned to the Dadaab Refugee Camp.

The 3 were arrested by police in the wee hours of the morning alighting from a bus which operates on the Garissa – Dadaab – Wajir route.

Despite having a refugee identification card, Najma who is 13 years old, told the court through an interpreter how she had been brought from Ethiopia to head to the United States Of America.

She said she was instead taken to work as a house maid whereas the person who took her there disappeared.

This comes just a day after the Court has nullified the Ministry of Interior and Coordination’s directive to repatriate refugees from Kenya saying that the refugees have not been in anyway linked to any terror act.

The High Court before Justice Isaac Lenaola ordered that the 48 children of refugees who had been taken back to their countries be paid Ksh 50,000 each as compensation for violation of their rights after they were inhumanly separated from their parents and guardians.

The compensation is limited to the families that moved to court only as the judge said he is not aware of status of families that had not come to court.