By Judy Ogutu
A death row convict seeking to be freed from Kamiti Maximum Prison has been allowed to undergo a medical examination to determine his gender.
Mr Richard Muasya, who reportedly has both male and female genitalia, had moved to court early this month to obtain orders to undergo tests that would help the court understand his medical and physical condition.
High Court Judge Justice Roselyn Wendoh granted the order on Wednesday.
Muasyas advocate John Chigiti argued his client wanted to decide the way forward regarding his gender.
Chigiti described his clients case "as a very needy one owing to the gender complication the petitioner is faced with, being inter-sexual yet placed in a male prison."
The applicant was born with both male and female sex organs, but goes about life as a man.
He has been at the Kamiti Maximum Prison since March last year after he was sentenced to hang for violent robbery.
Currently, there is no separate facility to detain hermaphrodites.
Muasya, who is seeking to be set free on grounds that he is neither male nor female, says he will be relying on the medical reports and opinions at the hearing of the case.
Further, he wants the law changed saying it is discriminatory against him as it only recognises the two sexes.
Last November, Justice Wendoh ordered prison authorities to accord him separate accommodation from male convicts.
However, he says he has continued to suffer degrading treatment by being exposed to male convicts, prison warders and other members of the public.
"The petitioner is a victim of continuous human and constitutional rights violation given that he is inter-sexual," Chigiti argued.
Muasya was arrested and charged together with other suspects in February 2005 following a robbery in which a victim was gang-raped.
Doctors at Kitui General Hospital confirmed he was a hermaphrodite and was kept in a secluded cell at Kitui Police Station.
Police dropped the rape charge against him after medical examinations determined that none of his sex organs was fully developed, and that it was unlikely for him to commit rape.
The East African Standad
A death row convict seeking to be freed from Kamiti Maximum Prison has been allowed to undergo a medical examination to determine his gender.
Mr Richard Muasya, who reportedly has both male and female genitalia, had moved to court early this month to obtain orders to undergo tests that would help the court understand his medical and physical condition.
High Court Judge Justice Roselyn Wendoh granted the order on Wednesday.
Muasyas advocate John Chigiti argued his client wanted to decide the way forward regarding his gender.
Chigiti described his clients case "as a very needy one owing to the gender complication the petitioner is faced with, being inter-sexual yet placed in a male prison."
The applicant was born with both male and female sex organs, but goes about life as a man.
He has been at the Kamiti Maximum Prison since March last year after he was sentenced to hang for violent robbery.
Currently, there is no separate facility to detain hermaphrodites.
Muasya, who is seeking to be set free on grounds that he is neither male nor female, says he will be relying on the medical reports and opinions at the hearing of the case.
Further, he wants the law changed saying it is discriminatory against him as it only recognises the two sexes.
Last November, Justice Wendoh ordered prison authorities to accord him separate accommodation from male convicts.
However, he says he has continued to suffer degrading treatment by being exposed to male convicts, prison warders and other members of the public.
"The petitioner is a victim of continuous human and constitutional rights violation given that he is inter-sexual," Chigiti argued.
Muasya was arrested and charged together with other suspects in February 2005 following a robbery in which a victim was gang-raped.
Doctors at Kitui General Hospital confirmed he was a hermaphrodite and was kept in a secluded cell at Kitui Police Station.
Police dropped the rape charge against him after medical examinations determined that none of his sex organs was fully developed, and that it was unlikely for him to commit rape.
The East African Standad
