ICC: Barasa’s petition against transfer dismissed

BY WILFRED AYAGA

NAIROBI, KENYA: Journalist Walter Barasa’s bid to stop his transfer to the Hague to face criminal charges has suffered a severe jolt after the High court threw out a petition he had filed challenging the constitutionality of the extradition proceedings against him.

The High Court on Friday dismissed arguments from Barasa’s lawyers that the International criminal Act under which the ICC has issued the arrest warrant against Barasa was inconsistent with the constitution.

The court further upheld that lack of regulations in Kenyan law on the procedure that should have been followed in seeking the arrest warrant against Barasa did not invalidate the proceedings against him.

The judge said that the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) under Kenya law provided sufficient guidelines to guide such proceedings.

“The CPC has provisions for a procedure for the issuance of a warrant, although the procedure involves a magistrate. I see nothing to prevent a High Court judge acting in accordance with the ICA playing the role of the magistrate under the CPC, given that the High Court has unlimited original jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters,” the court said.

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Following the ruling, Barasa will now focus his attention on battling against an application that has been filed by the Minister for interior seeking to activate the arrest warrant.