[JURIST] Humans Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website], along with Amnesty International, Civil Society Organizations Reference Group and National Civil Society Congress called on authorities in Kenya on Thursday to stop the harassment and intimidation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the country’s coastal region. The groups said in a statement (HRW report) that the harassment and intimidation of Haki Africa and Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) [advocacy website] is connected to their legitimate human rights work. Kenyan authorities placed both Haki Africa and MUHURI on an official list of alleged supporters of terrorism. Kenyan officials proceeded to freeze the bank accounts of both organizations without first notifying the groups. Haki Africa and MUHURI were since removed from the list [AFP report] by court order. Both groups are engaged in human rights protection in Kenya’s coastal region by documenting human rights abuses in the area. The region has a large Muslim population and often faces attacks from armed groups, including Somalia’s al-Shabaab. The groups allege that Kenyan security forces have responded by detaining and abusing local residents, often forcibly disappearing or killing suspects.

Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) has carried out a series of extrajudicial killings [JURIST report] and enforced disappearances in violation of international human rights laws, according to HRW in August. The ATPU has previously come under criticism by other human rights groups. Last year the Kenyan human rights group MUHURI and the Open Society Justice Initiative [advocacy website] issued a report calling on the US and the UK to suspend financial support [JURIST report] to the ATPU. The report’s publishing followed the completion of a new ATPU headquarters in Nairobi in May, which was partially funded by international anti-terror agencies. The facility increased technological capabilities and physical space for the ATPU, whose mission is to coordinate and carry out anti-terrorism operations within Kenya in support of the international War on Terror [JURIST backgrounder]. The unit’s primary focus of late is Kenya’s second-largest city, Mombasa, because the port city has become a major recruitment target for the al-Qaida linked Islamist group al-Shabaab [BBC Backgrounder; JURIST news archive], based in Somalia.