by Mike Durkin
Friday, April 18, 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya, (KMSP) -A Somali woman, detained by police in Kenya during the country's Operation Usalama Watch anti-terror roundup, has died.
Al Jazeera English correspondent Haru Mutasa first reported the death. Family members said the woman had a common cold, which worsened in the poor conditions of the detention facility.
The woman was laid to rest in a rare night burial at the Muslim cemetery in Kariokor, just northeast of Nairobi's city center.
Kenya Police Service spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki confirmed the woman had been awaiting deportation at Nairobi's airport, but said she died at the hospital, not in police custody.
91 SOMALIS SENT TO MOGADISHU
Kenya sent 91 more Somali nationals to Mogadishu on Thursday in the second wave of forced deportations that have drawn criticism from the United Nations.
Kenya is trying to purge the country of terrorists following multiple attacks linked to al-Shabaab, but the UN said these mass deportations could put innocent Somalis in a dangerous situation.
DETAINED IN OVERCROWDED, UNSANITARY STADIUM
82 Somalis were deported last week, and hundreds more are being held at a soccer stadium in central Nairobi.
"UNHCR is disturbed by reports of harassment and other abuses," a statement from the U.N. refugee agency said. "Furthermore, the conditions at Kasarani stadium and in the police stations are overcrowded and sanitary conditions are inadequate."
"When you have a beard or you are wearing clothing associated with Islam you are targeted," Omar, a Somali national, told the Associated Press. "I shaved my beard and I now wear suits to avoid being arrested."