Court Suspends CS Matiang’i Order to Deport Four Chinese Nationals Who Canned Kenyan Waiter

A Nairobi court on Wednesday suspended a deportation order for four Chinese nationals who were arrested after one of them was filmed canning a Kenyan restaurant worker.

The deportation order signed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on February 13th was suspended by High Court Justice Luka Kimaru after the four Chinese citizens filed an application challenging it.

Justice Kimaru further directed the prosecution to file responses to the application by the Chinese nationals by Friday, February 21st. The application was certified as urgent with the court directing that the matter is heard inter-party on February 25th.

The four; Deng Hailan, Chang Yueping, Ou Qiang and Yu Ling were arrested after detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raided Chez Wou Restaurant in Kileleshwa, Nairobi on February 9th.

The raid came hours after a video clip showing Hailan, a chef at the restaurant, canning a Kenyan waiter went viral on social media. After the arrest, it was discovered that Hailan did not have a valid work permit.

Yueping and Qiang, who are both chefs at the restaurant, were holding expired visas while Yu Ling, a cashier, was holding a visitor’s visa but without a work permit.

They are all facing charges of assault and causing actual bodily harm and their case was set to be mentioned on March 4th but CS Matiang’i signed the deportation order just hours after the court allowed police to hold the four for 15 days pending completion of investigations.