Kenyan veterans in UK court bid

An estimated 160,000 people were detained during the insurgency

A case against the British government brought by veterans of Kenya's independence struggle will be heard at London's High Court later.

Three men and two women have launched a compensation claim for alleged human rights abuses in the 1950s and 1960s.

Thousands of people were rounded up and forced into camps by the British during what was known as the Mau Mau uprising.

The UK says the claim is not valid because of the amount of time since the abuses were alleged to have happened.

Independence movement

The five Kenyans - aged in their 70s and 80s - are the lead claimants in the reparations case.

They want the British government to acknowledge responsibility for atrocities in the pre-independence era and to compensate them.

The government has indicated that the claim is invalid because of the time that has passed and that any liability rested with the Kenyan authorities after independence in 1963.

An armed movement began in central Kenya during the 1950s with the aim of getting back land seized by British colonial authorities.

Veterans of the war say they suffered barbaric treatment, including torture, as the British suppressed the rebellion.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions.

Historians say the Mau Mau movement helped Kenya achieve independence.

Wikio