Event Summary
On 6 July 2025, armed and masked goons stormed and attacked a press briefing by mothers of victims of police brutality at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) offices in Nairobi, in an alleged effort to deter and prevent the meeting from continuing, under the notion that the meeting was meant to plan for the Saba Saba protests. The press briefing, which had started as a peaceful gathering, took a different turn as CCTV cameras captured the goons flaunting wooden clubs, forcefully and violently accessing the compound after overpowering private guards, demanding that everyone leave the premises while stating there would be no protests on 7 July 2025. The incident was widely reported in the media, including by The Star and Nation, which highlighted the violent nature of the disruption and the clear targeting of civic actors.
This led to journalists, mothers, and human rights activists present scampering for safety, while the goons made away with people’s properties, including electronics—among them laptops, phones, and equipment belonging to journalists. Some of the mothers were left in tears and stranded, having brought their children with them. The victims of the attack reported the incident at the Muthangari Police Station, with the police committing to investigate.
The attack was preceded by the illegal deportation to Uganda of Martin Mavenjina, a Senior Programme and Legal Advisor on Transitional Justice at KHRC, allegedly under unclear circumstances, despite possessing a valid work permit earlier in the day—signifying a broader threat to democracy and collective freedoms.
As a result of the incident, several actors issued public condemnations. On the same day, 6 July 2025, the Police Reforms Working Group, which includes Transparency International Kenya, released a joint press statement, terming the attack a grave assault on Kenya’s constitutional freedoms and democratic principles. The statement demanded an impartial investigation, the prosecution of the perpetrators, and guarantees of safety for all civic actors involved. Different actors condemned the attack and called for the arrest and persecution of the perpetrators as they were well captured further terming the attack as a threat and intimidation on human rights activists.
The attacks was preceded by the illegal deportation to Uganda of Martin Mavenjina a Senior Programme and Legal Advisor on Transitional Justice at KHRC allegedly under unclear circumstances even after possessing a valid work permit earlier in the day signifying a threat to democracy and collective freedom.
The attack occurred on the eve of Saba Saba, commemorated annually on July 7th which is a significant date in Kenya’s pro-democracy history that marks the struggle for civil liberties, political reform, and social justice. In recent years, Saba Saba has become an important civic moment for citizens, civil society organisations, and human rights defenders to speak out against state excesses, including police brutality, shrinking civic space, and impunity. The 2025 Saba Saba commemoration came in the wake of widespread June protests that followed the killing of Albert Ojwang, a political blogger, which drew national outrage over police violence, arbitrary arrests, and the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators. The mothers’ forum held at KHRC was convened to provide a platform for women to mourn victims of police violence raise concerns about state repression, demand accountability and to seek justice for victims of police violence specifically, those murdered, injured or disappeared as a result of recent protests. Its violent interruption, not only breached the right to peaceful assembly guaranteed under the constitution but also demonstrated an increasingly hostile attitude by the state towards public accountability for violence and reform within the police service.
As of 25 July 2025, no arrests have been made and investigations have yet to yield any visible results. The event is seen as part of an ongoing pattern of shrinking civic space in Kenya, particularly the use of intimidation tactics and state inaction in response to threats against civil society and human rights defenders.