Kenyan captives in the war on terror
Certain Kenyan nationals have found themselves as detainees in the global counterterrorism efforts. According to a report by the East Africa Standard dated July 29, 2008, nineteen individuals suspected of ties to al Qaeda and detained in Kenya during the winter of 2007 were "taken from police custody by foreign intelligence operatives for questioning."
The magazine Der Spiegel disclosed that Kenyan officials collaborated with the United States during its backing of an Ethiopian military operation into Somalia in early 2007, which included the deployment of approximately 200 American agents from the FBI and CIA.
A report from the Kenyan Parliament concluded that these extraordinary transfers violated both the national Constitution and international legal standards by circumventing established judicial procedures. Some detainees were formally arrested prior to their handover; others were effectively abducted. The nineteen Kenyans were part of a broader group—primarily composed of non-Kenyans—who were transferred to Ethiopia and Somalia. Among them, Abdulmalik Mohamed was subjected to extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, located in Cuba.