Event Summary
On 30 May 2025, software developer and digital activist, Rose Njeri was arrested and detained in Kenya after developing a digital platform allowing citizens to send automatic emails to Members of Parliament opposing the Finance Bill 2025. On 2 June 2025, she was charged under Section 16 of Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act for “unauthorized interference with a computer system,” and held incommunicado for four days at Pangani Police Station. Her arrest drew strong denunciations and vocal support from civil society, tech communities, and political actors, consequently she was released on bond on 4 June 2025.
Concurrently, in early June 2025, 31-year-old Kenyan blogger and teacher, Albert Ojwang, died in police custody under suspicious circumstances. Ojwang was arrested in Homa Bay County, Kenya, after he made a number of social media posts critical of Eliud Lagat, Kenya’s Deputy Inspector General of Police, accusing him of corruption. When police initially reported the incident, they stated that Ojwang had died as a result of self-inflicted head injuries after he hit his head on the wall of the detention cell. However, a postmortem and examination by a team of pathologists revealed a substantial amount of head trauma, neck compression, and multiple other injuries indicative of blunt force, resulting in the nature of Ojwang’s death being amended to homicide. Ojwang’s death resulted in protests across the country, especially in Nairobi, where demonstrators clashed with the police.
These incidents suggest an alarming trend of the state infringing upon fundamental rights in Kenya. Together, Njeri and Ojwang demonstrate a climate of fear for those involved in civic activism and actors engaged in digital dissent, and reveal the dire need for accountability, legal reform, and protection of civic actors to preserve the rule of law and public trust.