Five of the six human rights activists who disappeared after being arrested during Thursday protests near Parliament have been found and are now receiving treatment in hospital, according to rights group Vocal Africa.
The activists were among those detained when plainclothes police officers moved in on demonstrators who had gathered to mark the anniversary of the 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests.
The six arrested activists were Davis Lichuma, who goes by the name Diffe, Elisha Alam, Collins Ochieng, Frederick Odhiambo Ojiro, Muteti Mulinge, and Michael Ngige, known as Kenyatta. According to witnesses and fellow activists, including Boniface Mwangi, the arrests happened without warning as officers in civilian clothes swept through the demonstration on June 25.
After being taken into custody, the activists were transported to Central Police Station in Nairobi, but officers there refused to enter their details into the station records.
This refusal to book the detainees raised immediate alarm among human rights monitors. The activists say they were later moved from the police station on Thursday to an unknown location, leaving their families and colleagues with no information about where they had been taken.
The incident sparked concern from organisations like the Kenya Human Rights Commission, which raised questions after the six were unaccounted for despite visits to several police stations across Nairobi.
Vocal Africa confirmed on Saturday, June 27, that five of the missing activists had been located. The group said those who were found are currently in hospital receiving medical care for injuries they sustained during their arrest and time in detention. However, Davis Lichuma remains unaccounted for, and his whereabouts are still unknown as of the latest update.
It remains unclear whether the six were included in the 355 arrests that Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced during a briefing on Thursday evening.
The official statement did not provide details about the specific individuals or circumstances of their detention, leaving questions about the official record of their arrests.
The incident has added to growing concerns about the conduct of security forces during recent protests. On Friday, a Nairobi court responded to legal intervention by civil society lawyers by releasing more than 200 of those who had been arrested, allowing them to go free on a cash bail of just one thousand shillings each.
This move by the court reflected a recognition that many of those detained had been held without proper procedures.
Human rights groups have called for accountability and transparency regarding what happened to the six activists during their detention.
The treatment of the arrested demonstrators has raised fresh questions about police conduct during peaceful assemblies and the obligations of officers to follow proper booking and record procedures when making arrests.
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