Distinguished Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi is due in courtroom on accusations of “facilitation of terrorist acts” throughout final month’s lethal anti-government protests by which a minimum of 19 folks died.
On Sunday, investigators stated they’d seized telephones, a laptop computer, and notebooks from Mr Mwangi’s Lukenya house on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, and laborious drives, computer systems, tear fuel canisters and a clean firearm spherical from his workplace within the metropolis.
His arrest has sparked a wave of condemnation, with human rights teams denouncing it was geared toward suppressing opposition voices.
The activist has denied the accusations, saying in a put up on X: “I’m not a terrorist.”
Based on the Kenya’s Directorate of Prison Investigations, Mr Mwangi stands accused of “offences associated to facilitation of terrorist acts and illegal possession of ammunition”.
The alleged offences are linked to the 25 June protests when, in line with the state-funded Kenya Nationwide Fee on Human Rights (KNCHR), 19 folks died as demonstrators clashed with police. Lots of have been additionally injured and property and companies have been broken.
Within the aftermath, Inside Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described the demonstrations as “terrorism disguised as dissent” and an “unconstitutional try” to vary the federal government.
At the very least 38 extra folks have been killed in subsequent protests earlier this month, the KNHCR has stated.
Since June final 12 months, greater than 100 folks have been killed in successive waves of anti-government protests, with police accused of utilizing extreme drive to quell unrest.
On Sunday, a coalition of 37 rights organisations condemned Mr Mwangi’s arrest on “unjustified terrorism allegations”, describing it because the “newest escalation in a scientific crackdown that has seen lots of of younger Kenyans detained on fabricated terrorism expenses”.
“What started as focused persecution of younger protesters demanding accountability has metastasized right into a full-scale assault on Kenya’s democracy,” they stated in a joint assertion.
James Orengo, a veteran politician and governor of Siaya county, stated it was “ridiculous to cost Boniface Mwangi and our kids who’ve demonstrated a excessive degree of political consciousness with terrorism”.
Mr Mwangi has been detained a number of instances up to now, and has been on the centre of many protests.
In Could, he and a Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire have been detained in Tanzania, the place they’d travelled to attend the trial of Tanzanian opposition chief Tundu Lissu, who’s accused of treason.
Following their launch a number of days later, each stated they’d been kidnapped, tortured and sexually assaulted. They’ve since filed a case on the regional East African Court docket of Justice over the matter.
