NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 20 — Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi has moved to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to contest the Supreme Court ban handed to him in January.
The outspoken lawyer seeks Sh200 million in damages, listing the Attorney General as a respondent.
Abdullahi argued the indefinite ban violates universally accepted human rights standards which anticipate a time-bound suspension.
He also cited Kenya’s Supreme Court judges for violating the fundamental principle of the rule of law.
“The conduct of the justices of the supreme court is unbecoming and does not comply with fundaments principle of good governance including maintenance of internationally accepted standards of human rights,” court papers circulated on Wednesday.
He argued that freedom of expression allowed him to criticize the Supreme Court and its judges to expose “corruption, incompetence, and other shortcomings” in the administration of justice.
“It can never be reasonably justifiable in an open and democratic society for justices of the apex court of the land to cloister themselves by taking such a cruel measure that does not advance transparency in the Judiciary and impose such a drastic measure which is intended to deny the applicant his livelihood,” his legal team argued.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has moved to challenge the Supreme Court decision at the High Court.
LSK accused argued the Supreme Court failed to afford Ahmednasir and his employees a hearing before banning his law firm.
