Find seven lost files in 1998 US Embassy bomb cases, judge orders court official
Find seven lost files in 1998 US Embassy bomb cases, judge orders court official
A judge has ordered a Deputy Registrar of the High Court to look for seven lost files for the 1998 US Embassy bomb attack victims’ compensation case. The case has been pending in court for the last 26 years.
Justice Lawrence Mugambi gave the order when he adjourned the case to April 10, 2025, because “the files were not in court.”
Justice Mugambi directed the deputy registrar to look for the files and report back to him on February 27, 2025.
“This case cannot continue due to the missing files. I therefore direct the deputy registrar to trace them and present them before this court by February 27, 2025,” ordered Justice Mugambi.
The judge urged the hundreds of victims to remain calm while the files were being traced.
Urging the judge to intervene, Kituo cha Sheria Lawyers Dr John Khaminwa and John Mwariri lamented that the trial had been frustrated by the loss of files, thereby delaying justice for the over 5,000 victims who were injured during the blast of August 7, 1998.
The blast, which left a trail of destruction of property, left more than 200 people dead.
Kituo cha Sheria, through Dr Khaminwa and Mr Mwariri, filed the case on behalf of 600 victims with various injuries. One person lost his genitals.
Dr Khaminwa told the court that justice should be served expeditiously to the victims.
“I urge this court to order the deputy registrar to trace these seven voluminous files from the registry and then place them before you. I will be referring to them in the final submissions,” Dr Khaminwa stated.
The veteran lawyer claimed that some unidentified persons made away with the files from both the court registry and also from the state law office.
“Neither the judge nor the Attorney-General has these voluminous files in their custody and the case therefore cannot proceed,” said the veteran lawyer.
The Kenyan victims of the 1998 US Embassy urged Washington to intervene to enable the victims of the country’s deadliest terror attack to be compensated for injuries suffered and trauma.
The powerful blast hit the US Embassy in downtown Nairobi on August 7, 1998, killing 213 people and injuring over 5,000 — most of them pedestrians or office workers in the adjacent buildings.
Minutes after the Nairobi attack, another explosion rocked the US mission in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The twin bombings, claimed by al-Qaida, killed a total of 224 people and went on to shape how a generation thinks about personal security.
The attack "still feels fresh" a quarter century later, said Anisa Mwilu, who lost her husband in the blast.
"What we can ask is for compensation," she said.
Caroline Muthoka, a member of a victims' group, urged the US Congress to approve legislation to cover medical expenses and education costs for survivors and their families.
Ms Muthoka described the failure of the US government to compensate victims as an "injustice.”
Ms Redempta Kadenge Amisi, who was in a building flattened by the explosion, said she needed financial assistance to cover the costs of her medication.
"The three people I was with died instantly. I didn't realise it, but my back was on fire," she said of injuries that left her hospitalised for over a month.
Both Kenyan and US officials attended the commemoration ceremony, where the names of all the victims were read aloud and candles were lit in their memory.
The 1998 attack thrust al-Qaeda onto the global stage and was the first in a series of bloody assaults in the East African nation.
Since the October 2011 deployment of the Kenyan military in Somalia to fight the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab, there has been an upsurge in revenge attacks over the border.
In September 2013, al-Shabab gunmen stormed Nairobi's Westgate Mall, killing at least 67 people. Another al-Shabab attack in April 2015 at a university in the eastern Kenyan city of Garissa left 148 people dead.
In January 2019, the group laid siege to a hotel complex in Nairobi, killing 21 people.
Justice Mugambi ordered all the parties to prepare to finalise the case by April 10.2025. The claimants are seeking to be compensated according to American standards.
