After deadly protests, Kenyans tell of brutal kidnappings

One activist was taken away while organizing a blood drive for injured protesters. Another said he was abducted while working at home after midnight, while his wife and three children slept nearby. A third said he was beaten and blindfolded before being thrown into the trunk of a car.

They all said they were detained by government security forces in Kenya in the past two weeks after speaking out against a controversial bill to raise taxes in the cash-strapped East African country.

Some joined the wave of anti-government protests that rocked Kenya after the bill was first introduced. At least 39 people were killed in clashes with police in June, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

At least 32 people, including activists, medical workers and social media influencers, have been abducted or arbitrarily heldaccording to interviews with human rights monitors and dozens of activists, including five who said they had been detained. Some spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.

They told how armed men wearing balaclavas and using unmarked vehicles dragged them off the streets or out of their homes in the middle of the night, blindfolded them, beat them and interrogated them about their involvement in the protests.

“They were like a swarm of bees,” said Gabriel Oguda, a policy analyst and columnist, referring to the masked, armed men who seized him from his home in Nairobi, the capital, at 2 a.m. the night before a major protest.

He said they beat and abused him, searched his home, demanded to know if he had received money to organize protests and then ordered him to unlock his phone. When he said that some apps on his phone needed his thumbprint to unlock, they threatened to cut off his thumb, he said.

Some of those seized are still missing, advocates say. The disappearances have shaken Kenya, a long-standing anchor of stability in the Horn of Africa. Activists say the disappearances have left an indelible stain on the administration of President William Ruto, a key Western ally who was feted by President Biden in May when Kenya was designated a top U.S. security partner.

Last week, a Supreme Court judge called the incidents “kidnappings” and ordered the police and the National Intelligence Service, a civilian agency whose director is appointed by the president, to stop them, citing the Constitution.

During a live discussion with Kenyans on social media site X on Friday, Ruto was confronted by a political activist who alleged that officers beat him, stole from his house and then took him to an unknown location.

“If that is the kind of treatment you have been subjected to, I apologize,” Mr Ruto said. “That is not right.” The president also said he promised to look into “a new problem called kidnapping” and ensure that the police follow legal procedures when making arrests.

Police did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

“The kidnappings and killings show how illiberal the Kenyan state, especially the executive branch and its police, have become,” said Njoki Wamai, assistant professor of international relations at the United States International University-Africa in Nairobi.

One activist who was detained said a gun was cocked next to his head. Most of those interviewed said they were hooded and shackled for hours, denied food or water, and held in cold rooms in unknown locations, dressed in thin clothing.

George Towett Diano, a human rights activist and farmer in Trans-Nzoia County in the Rift Valley, President Ruto’s stronghold, said he had been receiving anonymous calls for weeks asking him to stop protesting the finance bill.

Fearing for his life, Mr Diano, 29, decided to leave for Nairobi in late June. Before he could flee, he was attacked by five men with guns, he said.

Mr. Diano said he was beaten, blindfolded and forced into the trunk of a car. After several hours of interrogation, the men dropped him off in a town about 80 miles away, he said. They took his bloody clothes and left him in his boxers, he said. Mr. Diano has lived in fear ever since, with some family members, friends and business associates afraid to interact with him.

“We are seen and profiled as a threat to the nation,” Mr. Diano said. “But we have started a movement to make this country better, and no amount of intimidation will make us give in.”

For many Kenyans, the latest kidnappings are reminiscent of the authoritarian rule of Daniel arap Moi, who ruled for 24 years from 1978 to 2002 and was marked by corruption, kidnappings of opponents, torture and extrajudicial killings.

“A dangerous precedent has been set,” said Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, an umbrella organisation of lawyers. work to release protesters. “The president wants to govern, but he wants to govern with fear.”

Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who has been increasingly sidelined by President Ruto, has also accused the National Intelligence Service of carrying out the recent abductions, as well as a series of extrajudicial killings last year. Amnesty International said there were 136 extrajudicial killings in Kenya in 2023, with many victims dying in police cells.

The director of the intelligence service was not available for comment.

“Ruto has taken Kenya back to the Moi days,” said Ms Wamai, the professor.

The tax hike bill was introduced in May. The proceeds from the taxes were supposed to help pay off Kenya’s massive debts. But many Kenyans, angry at government excesses and burdened by the high cost of living, condemned the legislation.

After lawmakers passed the bill on June 25, protesters broke into parliament and set fire to part of it. Authorities responded with a violent crackdown, injuring and detaining hundreds of people. Mr Ruto rejected the bill the next day, but protesters have since called for his resignation.

On Friday, the president ordered a review of the country’s public debt, cuts in staffing and spending at government offices, and the retirement of government workers aged 60 and older.

Government officials have said the demonstrations are funded by foreign powers. The protesters deny this claim, saying they are part of a youth-led, leaderless movement that transcends class and tribal lines.

“These youth are the gift that Kenya always wanted,” said Julius Owino, a musician and radio station manager whose song “Indestructible“became a national sensation in 2002, during Mr Moi’s final days in power. “The children are showing us how to stand up and be fearless,” Mr Owino said.

But for many young Kenyans, the price of their protest is high.

At least one activist who spoke to The New York Times said he was sexually harassed and intimidated. Others were told they and their families would be hurt if they spoke openly about what happened. All were questioned about who their leader was and who was funding the anti-government protests.

One activist who spoke to The Times said he was asked to share the names of other activists. He said his interrogator told him: “‘If you want to make your voice heard about this bill and the government, the best thing you can do is seek asylum somewhere else,'” he said.

For now, protesters and human rights activists say a climate of fear has settled among those who continue to agitate against the government. Many have changed their phone numbers and gone into hiding. They are struggling to sleep after surviving a traumatic experience.

Mr Oguda, a policy analyst and columnist, said that after being pushed into a car by armed men who demanded his phone, he was told to lie face down.

“I told myself that if this is the day they are going to kill me, then that is it,” Mr. Oguda said. “I couldn’t help it.”

He was eventually taken to a police station in a neighboring county and questioned by five police officers. Mr. Oguda was released after a day, never charged with a crime.