Renowned Kenyan rights activist Boniface Mwangi was charged on Monday with unlawful possession of ammunition over his alleged role in anti-government protests in June, according to court papers seen by news agencies. He was arrested on Saturday and is accused of facilitating “terrorist acts” during protests that rocked the country last month.
Mwangi, 42, was arrested at his home near Nairobi on Saturday. He was held at a police station in the capital over the weekend and arraigned on Monday, Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said on social media. He was later freed on bail.
Investigators said the police had seized two mobile phones, a laptop and several notebooks from Mwangi’s home in Lukenya, east of the capital, plus hard drives, two more computers, two unused tear gas canisters and a blank firearm cartridge from his office in Nairobi.
The search warrant police used to raid Mwangi’s home, which an ally shared with journalists, accuses the campaigner of having paid “goons” to stoke unrest at last month’s protests.
However, 37 rights organisations, along with dozens of activists, said that none had yet managed to prove that a judge had indeed issued that warrant.
The courtroom in the capital Nairobi was packed with hundreds of activists, some wearing Kenyan flags.
Harassment
The activist denies the charges, saying in a social media post shared by his supporters: “I am not a terrorist.”
His detention triggered a wave of condemnation online, with the hashtag #FreeBonifaceMwangi going viral.
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Accept Manage my choices Rights groups also condemned his arrest, saying it is on “unjustified terrorism allegations” and represents an abuse of the justice system to crush the opposition, the organisations said in a joint statement.
“What began as targeted persecution of young protesters demanding accountability has metastasised into a full-scale assault on Kenya’s democracy,” the groups said.
“Human rights defenders and activists are not terrorists,” Hussein Khalid, an activist and head of Vocal Africa, a human rights NGO present at the rally outside the police station, told RFI. “When we protest, we are exercising a constitutional right. We want to assure the government that no level of intimidation, no threat, will deter us from exercising our constitutional rights,” he added.
His wife, Njeri Mwangi, came to visit him and told RFI: “What we are witnessing is an attempt at intimidation by the police. They have already arrested several young people on charges of terrorism and arson. Now they are talking about the same thing for Boni.”
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Anger towards the police
Mwangi, a former photojournalist, has been arrested multiple times in Kenya.
He was also arrested on 19 May in Dar es Salaam, neighbouring Tanzania’s largest city, while turning out in support of treason-accused Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
Over the years, he has run for parliament on an anti-corruption platform and has earned a reputation for speaking out against human rights violations in Kenya and elsewhere.
Both Mwangi and a fellow detainee, award-winning Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, accuse the police of torturing and sexually abusing them while they were in custody. The pair have brought a case to the East African Court of Justice.
Kenya slammed as ‘rogue state’ over Ugandan opposition leader kidnap
Since the start of the mass protest movement in Kenya last year, President William Ruto has faced sharp criticism over a series of abductions and police violence.
Last month, hundreds of Kenyans also took to the streets to protest against the death in police custody of political blogger Albert Ojwang.
Kenya protests erupt after activist Albert Ojwang dies in police custody
At least 19 people were killed during the 25 June demonstration this year. And rights groups say more than 100 people have been killed since the beginning of the protests last year, which were harshly suppressed.
(with newswires)
