Shailja Patel.

A week following the awarding of Sh9 million ($87,070) to Tony Mochama in his sexual assault defamation suit against Shailja Patel and Wambui Mwangi, including an order for a written apology to him and prohibition from any statements against him, Patel has now reacted. On 14 August, she Tweeted that she is “speaking of my own accord, with no instruction or affiliation to any other party in the case.” She described the activist Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi, who testified for Mochama, and the magistrate A.M. Obura as “partners-in-crime” who “need to silence me permanently on Tony Mochama’s sexual assaults, obstruction of justice, abuse of the judicial process.” Sharing documents on the case, she stated that she had “left Kenya. I’ve gone into exile, knowing I face jail if I ever come home.”

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