for daring to speak out against electoral malpractices, and human rights violations in the past weeks in Kenya. The threats arrrive by email, sms, phone. Their names are on lists, being circulated globally, that denounce them as "traitors to the Kikuyu people" and suggest they should be killed.
These are friends I grew up with, went to school with, worked with in the weeks following the election. They have dedicated their lives to truth and justice in Kenya.
Please sign the Amnesty Petition for their safety.
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About Shailja Patel
Shailja Patel is a Kenyan poet, writer and theatre artist who has performed at venues from New York's Lincoln Center to the Zanzibar International Film Festival. Patel's first full-length show, Migritude, premiered in the San Francisco Bay Area, and toured Kenya to critical acclaim in 2007. The show was selected as the subject of the 2007 season premiere of SPARK! – KQED TV's award-winning arts programme .Patel's work has received awards from, among others, the Ford Foundation, the National Performance Network, and Indian American Women Empowered. Most recently, she is a founding member of Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice, a coalition of Kenyan citizens and legal, governance, and human rights organizations, working towards a viable peace in the Kenya Crisis stemming from the December 2007 elections.