Prominent Nairobi activist Boniface Mwangi has been arrested.
His wife, Njeri Mwangi confirmed that the activist was taken away from their home aptly dubbed Courage Base in Lukenya, Machakos County early Saturday night.
It’s alleged that Mwangi was nabbed by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who did cited “terrorism and arson” as the reasons for his arrest.
Njeri Mwangi revealed that the detectives confiscated his gadgets, presumably phones and laptop.
The arrest comes a day after Boniface and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, alongside seven civil society organisations, filed a case before the East African Court of Justice accusing the government of Tanzania of grave human rights violations including enforced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention, sexual abuse and unlawful deportation.
They also demanded public apologies from the governments of Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, plus compensation of at least USD 1 million (approx. KES.130 million) each as well as rehabilitation and psychological support.
Boniface Mwangi has a checkered full-time career as a civil rights activist.
During the 2007-2008 post-election violence Mwangi burst into public limelight for selling photos of the skirmishes to foreign media houses including BBC.
He would rise to prominence and affluence by cultivating sponsorship from foreign-based human rights organizations. He is known to have friends in high places including a former Chief Justice.
Initially Mwangi together with Hanifa claimed to be the leaders of the Gen Z Movement but were unceremoniously, publicly disowned.
He has not been able to de-link himself from the tag of a commercial activist.
Latest reports indicate that his friends who attempted to tail the police have lost them and it is yet-to-be-established whether he has been taken to the DCI Headquarters on Kiambu Road or to a different police station.
This is a developing story…….. more details to follow
Leave a Reply