Forced ‘gay anal test’ was humiliating

George Maina Njeri (right) and Omar Caleb Iddris (left) when they appeared before the Kwale County Magistrates  [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Two men charged for engaging in gay sex and promoting pornography in Kwale are taking on the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in a landmark case at the Mombasa High Court that could make it illegal for government agents to 'open men's boots' to  sniff around for evidence of homosexuality. 

George Maina Njeri and Caleb Omar Idris not only claim they are falsely accused but are challenging a procedure used by the state to extract evidence of homosexual conduct. They allege that besides being detained in a filthy public toilet after their arrest, prison guards humiliated them by subjecting them to forced anal examination and tests for HIV. The petitioners therefore want their trial at the magistrate's court in Kwale stopped pending the outcome of the petition at the High Court challenging the admissibility and legality of evidence extracted through forceful anal tests. They say the magistrate who gave orders to police and doctors to perform the anal tests acted unconstitutionally.