Boniface Mwangi, a prominent Kenyan activist, will charge allegations of “promoting terrorist acts” in a deadly anti-government protest last month, with at least 19 people dead.
Investigators said on Sunday they grabbed phones, laptops and notebooks from Mr. Mwangi’s home in Lukenya in the capital, Nairobi and hard drives, computers, tear jugs and blank gun circles. From his office in the city.
His arrest sparked a wave of condemnation, with human rights groups condemning their voices aimed at suppressing opposition.
The activists denied the allegations and said in an article on X: “I’m not a terrorist.”
According to the Kenya Criminal Investigation Bureau, Mr. Mwangi was charged with “offences related to the promotion of terrorist acts and the illegal possession of ammunition”.
The alleged crime was linked to the protests on June 25, with 19 deaths and protesters clashing with police, according to the state-funded National Human Rights Commission (KNCHR). Hundreds of people were also injured, property and business were damaged.
Later, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen Describe demonstrations as “terrorism disguised as dissent” and the “unconstitutional attempt” to change the government.
KNHCR said at least 38 people were killed in the subsequent protests.
Since June last year, more than 100 people have been killed in a row of anti-government protests, and police have been accused of using too much force to calm the unrest.
On Sunday, a coalition of 37 rights groups condemned Mr Mwangi’s arrest on “unreasonable terrorism charges” as “the latest escalation in the systematic repression, which is the young people detained by hundreds of Kenyans on suspicion of terrorism allegedly created.
“The persecution, initially targeting young protesters demanding accountability, has shifted to a full-scale attack on Kenyan democracies,” they said in a joint statement.
“The Boniface Mwangi and our children who showed a high level of political awareness with terrorism,” said James Orengo, a senior politician and governor of Siaya County.
Mr. Mwanger has been detained several times in the past and has been the center of many protests.
in May, He and Uganda activist Atu Khail were detained in Tanzaniathey went to the trial of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who was accused of treason.
A few days later, they all said they were kidnapped, tortured and sexually assaulted. Since then, they have filed a lawsuit in the East African District Court on the matter.
