Kenyan lawyer, Miguna Miguna, has been deported from Kenya after being charged with treason over the presidential inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Miguna stated that he was forcibly made to board a flight to Canada, where he is also a citizen, via Amsterdam. The Kenyan government has argued that the decision and act to deport him was legal as Miguna had lost his citizenship under a now-defunct law.
Miguna was detained after he participated in the unofficial swearing-in of Odinga as “the people's president”, which is a move considered to have directly challenged the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
In a statement, Miguna said, “The illegitimate, despotic regime... forcefully placed me on a late night KLM flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam in flagrant violation of my constitutional rights, five court orders and common decency.”
The Kenyan government lawyers marked the swearing-in ceremony as an act of treason. Three TV networks were subsequently closed down after broadcasting the ceremony, two of which have reopened. Furthermore, fourteen opposition members also had their passports suspended.
This deportation, could be considered more than a mere coincidence. In 1966, Pranlal Sheth, a barrister practising in Nairobi, was also a political activist as well as supporter/advisor of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Raila Odinga's father. Sheth who was said to have been challenging Jomo Kenyatta, father of the current leader of Kenya, was also forcibly deported to India from Kenyadespite the fact that he was a Kenyan citizen.
Later that year, Pranlal Sheth was admitted to Britain, where his wife and family soon joined him. He was the founder of the still prevalent weekly Gujarati newspaper, Gujarat Samachar and was the chief editor for a year, and was also a very influential figure in Britain.
