Editing Jomo Kenyatta (section)

===Trial: 1952–1953===

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote="We Africans are in the majority [in Kenya], and we should have self-government. That does not mean we should not take account of whites, provided we have the key position. We want to be friendly with whites. We don't want to be dominated by them."|source= —Kenyatta, quoted by the ''[[Daily Express]]'', September 1952{{sfn|Maloba|2018|pp=120–121}} }}

In October 1952, Kenyatta was arrested and driven to Nairobi, where he was taken aboard a plane and flown to [[Lokitaung]], northwest Kenya, one of the most remote locations in the country.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|pp=253–254, 257}} From there he wrote to his family to let them know of his situation.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=257}} Kenya's authorities believed that detaining Kenyatta would help quell civil unrest.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=258}} Many white settlers wanted him exiled, but the government feared this would turn him into a martyr for the anti-colonialist cause.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray-Brown|1y=1974|1p=257|2a1=Arnold|2y=1974|2p=60}} They thought it better that he be convicted and imprisoned, although at the time had nothing to charge him with, and so began searching his personal files for evidence of criminal activity.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=258}} Eventually, they charged him and five senior KAU members with masterminding the Mau Mau, a proscribed group.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=259}} The historian John M. Lonsdale stated that Kenyatta had been made a "scapegoat",{{sfn|Lonsdale|1990|p=403}} while the historian A. B. Assensoh later suggested that the authorities "knew very well" that Kenyatta was not involved in the Mau Mau, but that they were nevertheless committed to silencing his calls for independence.{{sfn|Assensoh|1998|p=62}}

The trial took place in [[Kapenguria]], a remote area near the Ugandan border that the authorities hoped would not attract crowds or attention.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray-Brown|1y=1974|1p=258|2a1=Arnold|2y=1974|2p=134}} Together, Kenyatta, [[Bildad Kaggia]], [[Fred Kubai]], [[Paul Ngei]], [[Achieng Oneko]] and [[Kung'u Karumba]]—the "[[Kapenguria Six]]"—were put on trial.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=258}} The defendants assembled an international and multiracial team of defence lawyers, including [[Chaman Lall]], [[H. O. Davies]], [[Fitz Remedios Santana de Souza|F. R. S. De Souza]], and [[Dudley Thompson]], led by British barrister and Member of Parliament [[Denis Nowell Pritt]].{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=259}} Pritt's involvement brought much media attention;{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=259}} during the trial he faced government harassment and was sent death threats.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray-Brown|1y=1974|1p=260|2a1=Arnold|2y=1974|2p=142}} The judge selected, [[Ransley Thacker]], had recently retired from the [[Supreme Court of Kenya]];{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=259}} the government knew he would be sympathetic to their case and gave him £20,000 to oversee it.{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=129}} The trial lasted five months: [[Rawson Macharia]], the main prosecution witness, turned out to have perjured himself; the judge had only recently been awarded an unusually large pension and maintained secret contact with the then colonial Governor [[Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale|Evelyn Baring]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=65}} The prosecution failed to produce any strong evidence that Kenyatta or the other accused had any involvement in managing the Mau Mau.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=262}}

In April 1953, Judge Thacker found the defendants guilty.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray-Brown|1y=1974|1p=274|2a1=Arnold|2y=1974|2p=143|3a1=Maloba|3y=2018|3p=129}} He sentenced them to seven years' [[hard labour]], to be followed by indefinite restriction preventing them from leaving a given area without permission.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray-Brown|1y=1974|1p=276|2a1=Arnold|2y=1974|2p=143|3a1=Maloba|3y=2018|3p=129}} In addressing the court, Kenyatta stated that he and the others did not recognise the judge's findings; they claimed that the government had used them as scapegoats as a pretext to shut down KAU.{{sfnm|1a1=Slater|1y=1956|1p=14|2a1=Murray-Brown|2y=1974|2p=274}} The historian Wunyabari O. Maloba later characterised it as "a rigged political trial with a predetermined outcome".{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=129}} The government followed the verdict with a wider crackdown, banning KAU in June 1953,{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=255}} and closing down most of the independent schools in the country, including Kenyatta's.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=255}} It appropriated his land at Gatundu and demolished his house.{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=136}}

Kenyatta and the others were returned to Lokitaung, where they resided on [[Remand (detention)|remand]] while awaiting the results of the [[appeal]] process.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=278}} Pritt pointed out that Thacker had been appointed magistrate for the wrong district, a technicality voiding the whole trial; the Supreme Court of Kenya concurred and Kenyatta and the others were freed in July 1953, only to be immediately re-arrested.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=278}} The government took the case to the [[East African Court of Appeal]], which reversed the Supreme Court's decision in August.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=278}} The appeals process resumed in October 1953, and in January 1954 the Supreme Court upheld the convictions against all but Oneko.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=279}} Pritt finally took the case to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council|Privy Council]] in London, but they refused his petition without providing an explanation. He later noted that this was despite the fact his case was one of the strongest he had ever presented during his career.{{sfnm|1a1=Slater|1y=1956|1pp=26, 252|2a1=Murray-Brown|2y=1974|2p=279|3a1=Arnold|3y=1974|3p=140|4a1=Maloba|4y=2018|4p=135}} According to Murray-Brown, it is likely that political, rather than legal considerations, informed their decision to reject the case.{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=279}}