Mau Mau torture victims to receive compensation

Kenyans tortured by British colonial forces during the Mau Mau uprising will receive payouts totalling £20m, Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced

Thousands of people were killed during the Mau Mau revolt against British rule in Kenya in the 1950s

• The Mau Mau, a guerrilla group, began as a violent campaign against white settlers in 1952
• The uprising was eventually put down by the British colonial government
• The Kenya Human Rights Commission says 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed
• It says 160,000 people were detained in appalling conditions
• Kenya gained independence in 1963

The British government recognises that Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.

The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya's progress towards independence

Foreign Secretary William Hague said 5,228 victims would receive payments totalling £19.9m following an agreement with lawyers acting for the victims, who have been fighting for compensation for a number of years.

The compensation amounts to about £3,000 per victim and applies only to the living survivors of the abuses that took place