Boniface Mwangi, a former photojournalist, was charged over alleged position in lethal antigovernment protests in June.
A distinguished Kenyan human rights activist has been freed on bail after he was charged with illegal possession of ammunition over his alleged position in lethal 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 fuel canisters, a “7.62mm clean spherical”, two cell phones, a laptop computer and notebooks.
The courtroom was filled with a whole lot of activists, some carrying Kenyan flags. “They haven’t any proof,” Mwangi advised reporters, describing his prosecution as “a giant disgrace”.
His lawyer advised Reuters information company he was grateful to the court docket for agreeing to launch Mwangi on bail.
Kenya has been dealing with mass antigovernment protests throughout the nation since final 12 months – first towards tax will increase in a finance invoice and later to demand the resignation of President William Ruto.
For the reason that protests broke out, police have been accused of human rights abuses, together with allegations of presidency critics and activists being kidnapped and tortured.
Rights teams stated greater than 100 folks have been killed within the protests, which have been harshly suppressed.
This month, at the least 31 folks had been killed and greater than 100 injured in a authorities crackdown on a protest. In June, at the least 19 folks had been killed in an analogous demonstration towards Ruto.
Police accused Mwangi, a former photojournalist, of “facilitating terrorist acts” in the course of the June protests and arrested him on Saturday. The activist denied the fees, saying in a social media submit shared by his supporters: “I’m not a terrorist.”
His arrest triggered a wave of condemnation on-line with the hashtag #FreeBonifaceMwangi going viral and rights teams condemning it.
The search warrant police used to raid Mwangi’s residence, which an ally shared with journalists, accused the campaigner of getting paid “goons” to stoke unrest finally month’s protests.
Nevertheless, 37 rights organisations and dozens of activists stated they haven’t but managed to show {that a} decide had issued that warrant.
Mwangi’s arrest on “unjustified terrorism allegations” represents an abuse of the justice system to crush the opposition, the organisations stated in a joint assertion.
“What started as focused persecution of younger protesters demanding accountability has metastasized right into a full-scale assault on Kenya’s democracy,” the teams stated.
In June final 12 months, Al Jazeera’s digital documentary strand Shut Up profiled Mwangi throughout a ferocious police crackdown. He then stated his nickname on-line was the “Individuals’s Watchman” as a result of he was striving to get justice for the households of protesters killed by police.
Mwangi, who as soon as ran for parliament on an anti-corruption platform, has been arrested a number of occasions in Kenya.
He was arrested on Could 19 this 12 months in Dar-es-Salaam, neighbouring Tanzania’s largest metropolis, the place he had travelled to assist treason-accused Tanzanian opposition chief Tundu Lissu.
Each Mwangi and a fellow detainee, award-winning Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, accused the Tanzanian police of torturing and sexually abusing them whereas they had been in custody.
The pair have introduced a case earlier than the East African Court docket of Justice.