By Paul Redfern
A London MP is to press the UK Home Secretary to make a statement on why controversial preacher Gilbert Deya has not been returned to Kenya to face trial on child abduction charges.
Mr Deya, who now refuses to speak to the media, lost his appeal against extradition in October 2008 and was denied leave to appeal to the UK House of Lords.
Since then his lawyers have been actively pursing all legal avenues available to them to prevent his return to Kenya, including efforts to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
But Mr Deya’s constituency MP, Mr David Lammy, said last week that he was “shocked and deeply dismayed that he (Mr Deya) has not made his way to Kenya”.
“I don’t know why he is still here. It is my understanding that there have been successive legal attempts to avoid extradition but I will be writing again to the Home Secretary (Mr Alan Johnson) about this case because it is important many years later that justice is delivered to the young children who should not have been taken away from their natural families.”
Mr Deya is wanted on child abduction charges in Kenya, where the government alleges he stole five children between 1999 and 2004.
A BBC programme (Face the Facts) on Mr Deya also revealed that financial accounts for his charity, Gilbert Deya Ministries, have not been filed with the UK Charity Commission and are overdue. Despite this, Mr Deya’s TV station continues to broadcast daily to audiences across Africa and Europe.
Britain’s Home Office denies it has been slow in deporting the preacher for trial and says it is considering representations from Mr Deya’s solicitors that sending him to Kenya would breach his human rights.
Mr Deya’s wife Mary has served a jail sentence for child abduction in Kenya. She’s now facing fresh charges.
コメント