Obama’s grandfather was tortured by Brit officials reveal secret documents
April 6th, 2011 - 5:06 pm ICT by ANI
London, Apr 6 (ANI): A collection of secret documents detailing efforts to suppress the Mau Mau uprising has revealed that US President Barack Obama’s grandfather and others were brutally tortured by British officials.
The documents, which have lain hidden in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London, for 50 years, were removed from Kenya on the cusp of independence, the Daily Mail reported.
They were uncovered in January after five Kenyans launched a lawsuit against the British government.
The claimants said they suffered castration, sexual abuse, and severe beatings in detention camps administered by the British government, and want an apology and financial compensation.
Obama’s grandfather Hussein Onyango Obama was rounded up in 1949 in the very early days of the rebellion and spent two years in a high security prison.
Once a cook for a British officer, his family claim Obama was horrifically tortured, whipped every morning and evening until he confessed.
His third wife Sarah Onyango said white jailers would squeeze his testicles with parallel metallic rods and pierce his nails and buttocks with pins.
Obama, whose involvement with the rebellion has never been clear, was left permanently scarred and bitterly anti-British.
His account tallies with the experiences of the five elderly Kenyans now suing the British government.
The claimants, represented by law firm Leigh, Day and Co, say they were “subjected to gross abuse and torture”.
The crux of their case due to open on Thursday, relies on the premise that the bloody campaign was not isolated incidents but systematic abuse sanctioned by the authorities.
This, they will argue, would make the current British government liable.
The Mau Mau rebellion is widely regarded as one of the worst episodes in British colonial history.
As many as 150,000 suspected members of the resistance movement, which had its roots in the Kikuyu tribe, were detained without trial between 1952 and 1960.
At least 12,000 were killed with thousands more left with deeply debilitating physical and mental injuries. (ANI)
- The British tortured Obamas grandfather - Dec 03, 2008
- Obama's tortured grandfather casts shadow over US-British ties - Jan 21, 2009
- Saying Obama grew up in Kenya lands GOP leader Huckabee in a fix - Mar 02, 2011
- Fish kills two men by biting off their testicles - Dec 29, 2011
- Al Qaeda-linked outfit threatens Obama's grandmother - May 13, 2011
- Obama's aunt can stay in US - May 18, 2010
- UK slams Obama's 'France is America's biggest ally' comments - Jan 12, 2011
- Gunfire in Meerut jail as cops, inmates clash - Apr 18, 2012
- Australian fined for showing buttocks to Elizabeth - Feb 14, 2012
- Jail riot in UP after prisoner's death - Mar 21, 2012
- Obama's Kenyan Aunt Zeituni can stay in the US for two more months - Feb 05, 2010
- Analysis of Chinese terracotta stallions points to horse castration 2000 years ago - Mar 03, 2010
- Obama's uncle held for drunken driving - Aug 30, 2011
- UK linked to Bangladeshi secret torture centres - Jan 18, 2011
- Is Obama's grandmother under threat from Al Qaeda? - May 13, 2011
Tags: barack obama, bloody campaign, british colonial history, british officials, daily mail, detention camps, financial compensation, foreign and commonwealth, foreign and commonwealth office, gross abuse, jailers, kenyans, kikuyu tribe, mau mau, mau mau rebellion, mau mau uprising, resistance movement, secret documents, systematic abuse, wife sarah