Gitobu Imanyara (born c. 1954) is a Kenyan

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

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, solici ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Biography

After Imanyara spent more than two years in Maximum Security Prison on charges associated with his work as a human rights lawyer, he founded the ''

Nairobi Law Monthly 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 h ...

'' in 1987. It was not supportive of

Daniel Arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He was the country's longest-serving president. Moi previously served as the third vice ...

's one party policy and Imanyara was arrested for not registering the magazine. He was again arrested in 1990 after writing a special issue entitled "The Historic Debate: Law, Democracy, and Multi-Party Politics in Kenya." At one point he was held in a prison psychiatric ward, though he re-released the issue following his own release. Receiving the International Editor of the Year by the ''

World Press Review ''World Press '' (Worldpress.org) is an independent, nonpartisan New York based magazine founded in 1974 and initially published by Stanley Foundation and Teri Schure, with an online edition which was launched in 1997. The headquarters of th ...

'' while in prison, he was called "the boldest voice for a free press in a country whose intolerant government does not hesitate to shut down publications and where most journalists practice self censorship." Imanyara was arrested for a third time in April 1991 after police confiscated the current issue of his journal. The offending information was about the formation of an opposition political party, and Imanyara was unable to notify his family or lawyer. His papers were ransacked without a warrant. While in custody, Imanyara developed a brain tumor which was treated. Kenyan aid money went down significantly after the arrest, and the U.S. State Department called it "another denial of freedom of expression in Kenya." He was awarded the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award later that year, but due to authorities not allowing him to leave the country for it, Liberal International President

Otto Lambsdorff Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

brought it personally to

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 prope ...

in early 1992. At the Kenyan general elections in December 1997, he won a regional landslide victory and was elected MP for Central Imenti Constituency. He continued to publish his newspaper, which was renamed the Africa Law Review. Imanyara is a member of the International Board of Article XIX, a member of the Advisory Board of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, and also a member of the Media Institute for the advancement of the freedom of expression. In January 2008, Imanyara accused the Kenyan first lady Lucy Kibaki of assault and threatened to sue Kibaki over the alleged incident. The first lady was swift to deny the allegations, accusing Imanyara of blackmail after failing to secure the deputy Speaker's seat during the elections in Parliament.

References

Meru people The Meru or Amîîrú (including the Ngaa) are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit the Meru region of Kenya on the fertile lands of north and eastern slopes of Mount Kenya, in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. The word Meru means Shining ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imanyara, Gitobu Kenyan journalists 20th-century Kenyan lawyers 1950s births Meru people Members of the National Assembly (Kenya) Kenyan prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Kenya Living people 21st-century Kenyan lawyers