Several campaigns and calls to action are circulating online to petition the Kenyan government to ensure the safety of several human rights activists. These human rights defenders have received death threats by email, SMS and telephone calls because they had spoken publicly about the outcome of the December 2007 elections that led to rioting and mass violence. The activists who have received threats include:

· Muthoni Wanyeki, Executive Director of Kenya Human Rights Commission
· Maina Kiai, Chairman of Kenya National Commission for Human Rights
· Haroun Ndubi, human rights lawyer, member of Kenya Domestic Observers Forum
· David Ndii, author of report on electoral irregularities
· Gladwell Otieno, Director of Africa Centre for Open Government
· Ndung'u Wainaina, staff member of National Convention Executive Council
· Njeri Kabeberi, Executive Director of the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy
· Nahashon Gachehe, employee of Independent Medico-Legal Unit
· James Maina, member of People's Parliament (Bunge La Mwananchi)

In an article titled “Don't Give in to a Climate of Fear” published in 4 February 2008 in the East African, Wanyeki urges her fellow Kenyans to make more constructive efforts averting further violence and deterioration of the country's democratic structures.

“..The propaganda war must stop. Surely we can see both the intent and the consequences now of the propaganda we all engaged in, abandoning all ethics, morals and principles, during the campaign period? It is not enough to say that elders and politicians incited violence. We all did. ...Calling for peace is not enough. We will only slide into civil war if we cannot see through this. We must resist the fear, name the problem accurately and desist from the build up to the declaration of a state of emergency or the deployment of the military or, worse, the usurpation of civilian governance by military governance.”

Amnesty International has put out an online petition and invites people to sign on at

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=9790

Source:

“Kenya: Protest the death threats against human rights defenders,“ http://wluml.org/english/actionsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B156%5D=i-156-560418, posted on 13 February 2008, Women Living under Muslim Laws

Women’s Memorandum to the Mediation Team, Committee Nominated by the Women’s Organisations, January 25, 2008