Morris Kaberia
From Death Row to Defending Lives
University of London LLB Graduate and Senior Leadership Team Member, Justice Defenders
“At first I did not believe it when the judge said I was free. I had to ask her to repeat it.”
When Morris Kaberia first heard the words “you are now free to go home,” he could not take them in. After thirteen years on death row for a crime he did not commit, he had lived so long with silence, fear and uncertainty that freedom felt impossible. Only when the judge repeated the words did he allow himself to believe it. Standing in the dock, he cried.
Inside Kamiti Maximum Prison, Morris found a purpose he never expected. He enrolled in the University of London law programme at a time when many believed that people on death row had nothing left to contribute. He recalls how officers and fellow inmates assumed the effort was pointless, yet the classroom became the place where he reclaimed his voice. Studying transformed him into a paralegal who defended others who had been forgotten by the system.
Alongside fellow students, Morris helped initiate the petition that became known as Muruatetu. They saw a gap in the law that kept people sentenced under colonial-era provisions from receiving fair consideration. Working from a prison classroom, they prepared the case that would later reach the Supreme Court. Morris still remembers the moment the judgment was read, watching from a crowded prison hall as people on death row realised they would finally receive proper sentencing hearings. The shouting and relief echoed through the room.
Today, Morris serves as a senior leader at Justice Defenders. His lived experience has placed him in a unique position to shape the justice sector and expand access to legal education across Kenya. What began as a fight for his own survival has become a lifelong commitment to ensuring that no person stands alone before the law.
