During the height of the Mau Mau Uprising, Sir Evelyn Baring, colonial governor of Kenya, introduced the death penalty for anyone who organised the taking of the Mau Mau oath. The British argued that the oath was often forced upon Kikuyu people. The Mau Mau oath called for the individual's death if they failed to kill a European farmer, or even their own relations, if they were seen as collaboraters of the colonialists, when ordered to do so by the organisation.
The British used concentration camps to process those suspected of Mau Mau involvement. Abuse and torture was commonplace in these camps, as British guards used beatings, sexual abuse and executions to extract information from prisoners and to force them to renounce their allegiance to the anti-colonial cause