Latest news with #antigovernmentprotests
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Kenya rights activist Boniface Mwangi charged with possession of ammunition
A prominent Kenyan human rights activist has been charged with unlawful possession of ammunition over his alleged role in deadly antigovernment protests in June. Boniface Mwangi was charged by the police on Monday, two days after he was arrested and accused of possessing unused tear gas canisters, a '7.62mm blank round', two mobile phones, a laptop and notebooks. Kenya has been facing mass antigovernment protests across the country since last year – first against tax increases in a finance bill and later to demand the resignation of President William Ruto. Since the protests broke out, police have been accused of human rights abuses, including allegations of government critics and activists being abducted and tortured. Rights groups said more than 100 people have been killed in the protests, which have been harshly suppressed. This month, at least 31 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a government crackdown on a protest. In June, at least 19 people were killed in a similar demonstration against Ruto. Police accused Mwangi, a former photojournalist, of 'facilitating terrorist acts' during the June protests and arrested him on Saturday. The activist denied the charges, saying in a social media post shared by his supporters: 'I am not a terrorist.' His arrest triggered a wave of condemnation online with the hashtag #FreeBonifaceMwangi going viral and rights groups condemning it. The search warrant police used to raid Mwangi's home, which an ally shared with journalists, accused the campaigner of having paid 'goons' to stoke unrest at last month's protests. However, 37 rights organisations and dozens of activists said they have not yet managed to prove that a judge had issued that warrant. Mwangi's arrest on 'unjustified terrorism allegations' 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 metastasized into a full-scale assault on Kenya's democracy,' the groups said. In June last year, Al Jazeera's digital documentary strand Close Up profiled Mwangi during a ferocious police crackdown. He then said his nickname online was the 'People's Watchman' because he was striving to get justice for the families of protesters killed by police. Mwangi has been arrested multiple times in Kenya. He was arrested on May 19 this year in Dar-es-Salaam, neighbouring Tanzania's largest city, where he had travelled to support treason-accused Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Both Mwangi and a fellow detainee, award-winning Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, accused the Tanzanian police of torturing and sexually abusing them while they were in custody. The pair have brought a case before the East African Court of Justice.
Al Jazeera
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
At least 31 dead, 532 arrested in Kenya's antigovernment protests
The death toll from antigovernment protests in Kenya has surged to at least 31 people, the country's human rights commission said, with at least 107 others wounded during the nationwide marches. In a statement on Tuesday, the National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) also reported two forced disappearances in the wake of Monday's marches, which commemorated a 1990 uprising against undemocratic governance in the East African nation. The commission, which initially gave a toll of 10 dead and 29 wounded, said it has also counted at least 532 arrests. The marches saw clashes erupt between protesters and police in the capital, Nairobi, as well as the city of Eldoret, with the KNCHR accusing the police of cooperating with armed gangs, who were armed with machetes and spears, in the wake of the violence. There was widespread destruction of property, too, including supermarkets. The KNCHR said it 'strongly condemns all human rights violations and urges accountability from all responsible parties including police, civilians and all other stakeholders'. Monday's marches marked Saba Saba Day, meaning Seven Seven, which celebrates the date when Kenyans rose up to demand a return to multi-party democracy on July 7, 1990, after years of rule by then-President Daniel arap Moi. They came amid more than a year of mostly youth-led protests that have swept across Kenya since June 2024, when proposed tax rises triggered anger about wider issues, including the state of the economy, corruption and police brutality. Protesters have also been calling on President William Ruto to resign. Their actions have been met with harsh repression from the police. The Law Society of Kenya and Police Reforms Working Group said that 'heavily armed police with military grade weapons were deployed in violation of court orders, using masks and unmarked vehicles to conceal their identities'. Overall, the Police Reforms Working Group said that the protests on Monday took place in 20 of Kenya's 47 counties on Monday, including Nairobi, Kajiado, Nyeri, Mombasa, Kisii, Embu, Kisumu, Kiambu, Meru, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Vihiga, Narok, Kirinyaga, Uasin Gishu, Tharaka Nithi, Makueni, Laikipia and Kakamega. Tuesday's toll takes the number of people dead in the protests since they began last year to more than 100. This includes at least 16 people killed in nationwide rallies against police brutality and government corruption in Kenya, on June 25, less than two weeks ago. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for the Interior Kipchumba Murkomen last week told police to 'shoot on sight' anyone who approaches police stations during protests after several were burned. The Kenya National Cohesion and Integration Commission, a government body whose commissioners are appointed by the president, on Tuesday urged politicians not to heighten ethnic tensions and criticised police for using excessive force towards protesters. In a statement issued before the revised death toll, the United Nations human rights office, OHCHR, expressed deep concern over the killings of protesters in Kenya on Monday. It said the deaths occurred 'amid reports that police and security forces used lethal force to quell violent demonstrations in Nairobi and across the country'.
