"For
decades the British Foreign Office kept documents describing the torture of Mau
Mau rebels hidden in a secret archive at Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire. Until
2011 it denied the archive's existence. In
court the British government tried to fend off the claims, arguing that the
Kenyan government should take responsibility — even though the abuses occurred
before Kenyan independence — and that the events were too long ago to enable a
fair trial to take place. Even
after the High Court ruled in October that the compensation claims could
proceed, the British government appealed, saying that the judgment had
"potentially significant and far-reaching implications," apparently fearing the
case could open the way for other claims in other former
colonies."