Oscar Kamau Kingara (July 14, 1971 - March 5, 2009) was a Kenyan
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and
human rights activist
A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...
. Kingara was the
founder
Founder or Founders may refer to:
Places
*Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium
* Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...
and director of the
Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic, a human rights organization based in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
.
His 2009 assassination is widely attributed
to his work in documenting police killings.
Early life
Kingara was brought up in both
Kiambu
Kiambu is a town in Kiambu County, Kenya within the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. It is from the capital Nairobi. It has an population of 147,870. It is the capital of the Kiambu County, which bounds the northern border of Nairobi. Other proxi ...
and
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
in modest and average upbringing. After graduating and acquiring a law degree, Kamau Kingara opted to venture into the family business that involved manufacturing Industries, meat and fish processing, real estate, import/ export and dealership of building materials in Kenya.
Human rights work
Kingara was director of the Keny's Oscar legal aid Foundation. He was credited with an important role in investigative work behind police killings in Kenya.
In 2008, he released a report accusing Kenyan police of killing or
torturing
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
more than 8,000 people as part of a crackdown on the
Mungiki
Mungiki is a banned ethnic organisation in Kenya. The name (''mũngĩkĩ'', ) means "a united people" or "multitude" in the Kikuyu language. The religion, which apparently originated in the late 1980s, is secretive and bears some similarity to myst ...
criminal organization
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
.
[ Another report to which Kingara made major contributions, ''The Cry of Blood — Report on Extra-Judicial Killings and Disappearances''] was widely publicised by WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
.
Assassination
On March 5, 2009, Kingara and his assistant, John Paul Oulu, were ambushed and shot as they sat in rush hour
A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...
traffic in a white Mercedes outside of the University of Nairobi
, mottoeng = In unity and work
, image = Uon emblem.gif
, image_size = 210px
, caption = Coat of Arms of the University
, type = Public
, endowment ...
dormitories.[ Kingara, who was 38 years old, was killed instantly while Oulu died soon after.][ The three gunmen, who were dressed in dark suits, escaped in two cars.][ Critics quickly pointed to elements within the Kenyan security forces and police as responsible for the assassinations.][ Following the assassination, WikiLeaks called for witness reports and described Kingara and Oulu as "Wikileaks-related senior human rights activists".] Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
condemned the killings saying, "We are hurtling towards failure as a state."[
United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Prof ]Philip Alston
Philip Geoffrey Alston is an Australian international law scholar and human rights practitioner. He is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and co-chair of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Globa ...
has urged the Kenyan Government to establish independent investigations into the killing of the two prominent human rights activists. Alston said the way the two men were killed was likely to cast suspicions on police.[Rukanga, Mutah]
"UN's Alston urges independent probe over deaths"
"The Daily Nation
The ''Daily Nation'' is the highest circulation Kenyan independent newspaper with 170,000 copies.
History
The ''Daily Nation'' was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called ''Taifa'' by the Englishman Charles Hayes. It was bought ...
", Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, 6 March 2009. Retrieved on 6 October 2013.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingara, Oscar Kamau
2009 deaths
20th-century Kenyan lawyers
Kenyan human rights activists
Assassinated activists
1971 births
21st-century Kenyan lawyers
2009 in Kenya