Justice in Africa: An Overview of Recent Injustice

Abstract

“The fact is that detention without trial is not only a punitive act of physical and mental torture of a few patriotic individuals, but it is also a calculated act of psychological terror against the struggling millions. It is a terrorist program for the psychological siege of the whole nation. That is why the practice of detention from the time of arrest to the time of release is deliberately invested with mystifying ritualism. My arrest, for instance.”—Ngugi wa Thiong’o from Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary.In the quotation above, Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o sums up the anguish of many Africans, writers, and non-writers alike. Because they address a national, and sometimes international, audience, writers are particularly prone to detentions without trial.