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Kenya abductions spark fears of a return to dark past

Barbara Plett Asher, Maureen Newkori, and David Wafula

BBC News, Nairobi

Gerald Karisha Billy Mwangi frowns slightly as his mother kisses him after he was released following his kidnapping Gerald Caresha

Billy Mwangi, shown here with his mother after his release, was reticent about his kidnapping

The disappearance of more than 80 government critics over the past six months has sparked huge public backlash in Kenya.

A judge warned he would jail top security officials for contempt of court on Monday if they failed to appear for a third time to explain a recent spate of alleged kidnappings.

This case is linked to disappearances documented by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission since the start of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases last June.

At least 24 people are said to be still missing.

Police and the government deny kidnapping and illegally detaining protesters, but the country has a history of state-sponsored kidnappings, and some Kenyans fear a return to that dark past.

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanga and Director of Criminal Investigations Directorate Mohamed Amin ordered seven social media influencers who disappeared in December to be brought to court.

Five of them suddenly appeared in early January in various locations across the country.

Kanga’s lawyers asked the court for more time to record their statements and submit a report.

Billy Mwangi is one of the five. The 24-year-old was dropped off by his alleged kidnappers 75 kilometers (46 miles) from his hometown of Embu, central Kenya, in an apparent act of intimidation.

Billy’s father, Gerald Mwangi Karesha, told the BBC that his son was psychologically traumatised.

“The boy didn’t participate much,” he said. “All I can say is that when he came, he was not himself. He seemed to be in shock.”

Billy, a university student, has been a vocal critic of the government on social media. He disappeared on 21 December 2024 while at a barber shop in Embu.

According to eyewitnesses, masked men arrived in Fielder’s Toyota and a double-cab pickup, put him in one of the vehicles and sped off.

Within hours, his family’s worst fears began to unfold.

“Most weekends, we watch football together,” Gerald said. “His club is Chelsea, and his club is Arsenal.”

He called Billy to discuss a football game on the evening of his disappearance, only to find his son’s phone switched off.

The barber shop owner later informed him of the kidnapping, prompting a frantic search.

Billy’s mother broke down when she heard the news and the weeks that followed were traumatic for the family.

Once found, Billy was taken to hospital for a routine check-up. His family says he is still recovering from the shock, but his release has brought them a measure of comfort.

Like many who resurface after alleged kidnappings, Billy has said little about his ordeal, perhaps out of fear.

Aslam Longton in a blue shirt and Jamil Longton in a white polka dot shirt talk while standing on a dirt road in Kitengela town. A silver car can be seen behind them.

The Longton brothers – Aslam (left) and Jamil (right) – were detained for 32 days. Aslam told the BBC that he was regularly beaten by his captors

Jamil and Aslam Longton also remained silent after their release in September after spending 32 days in captivity.

Jamil says that the brothers were warned that they would be killed if they went to the media.

Three months later, a government official publicly referred to their case as a lawful detention.

The siblings took this as confirmation that a government agency was responsible for what they went through and found the courage to speak out.

“Kenya’s constitution is very clear,” Jamil says. “You have to be arrested and brought to court within 24 hours. We had 32 days. We were not given a lawyer to represent us anywhere.

“We were not allowed to see our family or communicate with our family. So this is not an arrest, it is a kidnapping.”

The two brothers told the BBC that Aslam helped organize protests against high taxes in the town of Kitengela near the capital, Nairobi, and security forces warned him not to stop his activity.

One day in August, they were taken to a car near their home, with their heads covered and handcuffed, and taken to an unknown location where they were held in small, dark cells.

Aslam says he was beaten regularly, and his tormentor demanded to know who was funding the protests.

“I was so scared,” he says. “When the door opened, this man came in with a fiber wire and a metal rod.

“I was afraid he was coming to hit me or kill me, and there were only two options: hit me or kill me.”

Jamil describes their captors as being heavily armed, able to track their cell phones, confident enough to pick them up in broad daylight, and operating with the level of resources and degree of resilience reported by human rights groups in many cases.

But this does not mean that they are official security agents, says government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, denying that the state is behind the kidnappings.

“Organized security may also be part of organized crime,” he told the BBC.

“It may also be for political reasons… Our political critics have really criticized this issue. They are actually only dealing with it to settle political scores.”

Mr. Mwaura declined to comment on the matter The case of Cabinet Minister Justin Muturione of the most damning indictments of the Kenyan security services.

Muturi says his son was arrested by the National Intelligence Service and released only after he made a direct appeal to President William Ruto.

“This is a matter under investigation, because this is his side of the story,” Mwaura said. “But what is the counter-story to the NIS?

“I would like to say categorically that the President of the Republic of Kenya, who is the head of government, did not authorize any form of kidnapping at all, because he is a man who believes in the rule of law.”

The truth is that Ruto publicly promised to stop kidnappings, and was forced to respond to popular anger and fears expressed by Western allies.

Many are distressed that the seemingly systematic disappearance of anti-government activists has resurfaced in this way, reminiscent of similar tactics under the authoritarian leadership of Daniel arap Moi in the 1980s and 1990s.

Reuters A group of Kenyan protesters hold aloft yellow handwritten posters calling for the release of people who have been kidnapped. Several of them raised their fists — including a bearded young man in a blue-collared shirt and a woman wearing a brown V-neck patterned dress, a blue-and-white necklace and headscarf, and sunglasses on her forehead.  Reuters

Public anger is mounting over the kidnapping of government critics

Gitopo Imanyara, a journalist and activist who campaigned for multi-party politics in the early 1990s, was arrested and beaten by Moi’s regime. He has no doubt that he sees Moi’s “playbook” in action now.

But he says times have changed. The constitutional amendments created more accountability mechanisms and “there is a larger segment of Kenyan society that will not be intimidated.”

“The democratic space has expanded so much that the government cannot afford to get rid of dissenting democratic voices,” he told the BBC.

He added that with social media, “word spreads almost instantaneously.”

“We can’t be censored the way we used to be censored in those days when we could only use landlines.”

Reports of disappearances have diminished in recent weeks.

But although the police investigation was announced, no one was charged, let alone convicted, for carrying it out.

Several advocacy groups have petitioned the Prosecutor demanding that kidnapping cases be referred to the International Criminal Court.

As for the families of the missing, the nightmare continues.

“We are very depressed and devastated,” says Stacey Mutua, the sister of Steve Mbisi, one of the seven who disappeared in December.

“We hope they release him. [Most] One of the kidnappers was released, but is still missing. “We pray that he will be found.”

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Getty Images/BBC A woman looks at her mobile phone and a photo by BBC News AfricaGetty Images/BBC

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2025-01-24 01:08:00

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