The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Kenya on 5 August 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 28 October 2025.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topics: the attempts to prevent the media from reporting live on the peaceful protests on 25 June 2025; the arrests and arbitrary detention of Mr. Mark Amiani, Mr. Mulingwa Nzau, Mr. Francis Mutunge Mwangi and Mr Boniface Mwangi in connection with these protests; the deportation of Mr. Martin Mavenjina; and the attacks against a press conference hosted at the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
Mr. Mark Amiani is a human rights defender and member of the Social Justice Centres Working Group and Kongamano La Mapinduzi Movement. His human rights work focuses on documenting human rights violations carried out by members of the police in Kenya and advocating for social justice.
Mr. John Mulingwa Nzau is a human rights defender who focuses on exposing extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and human rights violations committed by the police in Kenya. He is also a member of the Social Justice Centres Working Group, Bunge la Wananchi and the Kongamano La Mapinduzi Movement.
Mr. Francis Mutunge Mwangi is a human rights defender who works with the Ruaraka Social Justice Centre documenting incidents of police misconduct and security sector abuses.
Mr. Boniface Mwangi is a photojournalist, human rights defender and founder of Pawa 254, a civil society organization based in Nairobi, Kenya, which promotes active civic participation, human rights, livelihood improvement, and employment development for Kenyan youth.
Mr. Martin Mavenjina is a Ugandan national, a human rights defender, lawyer, Senior Legal Advisor on Transitional Justice for the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Vice-President of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Special Procedures mandate holders have previously highlighted to the Government of Kenya allegations of abductions, enforced disappearances and the detention of individuals, including protestors and human rights defenders, in relation to the protests that occurred in June, July and August 2024 (UA KEN 4/2024). We regret not having received a response from the Government to this communication, in particular in light of the below detailed allegations.
ALLEGATIONS
Crackdown on media outlets reporting live from nationwide protests on 25 June 2025
On 25 June 2025, protests against police brutality and Government policies were held nationwide in Kenya, during which sixteen people were killed and hundreds more were injured. The protests marked the one-year anniversary of a national strike which took place in the context of demonstrations held in June, July and August 2024 calling for the repeal of the proposed Finance Bill 2024/2025. These protests were also met with police violence resulting in multiple deaths, abductions and enforced disappearances.
During the protests on 25 June 2025, several major media stations reported having had their transmission centres raided by police and communication officials who switched off their signals, preventing them from broadcasting and reporting on the protests except for on social media platforms. On the same date, the Communications Authority of Kenya introduced a directive instructing Kenyan media houses to cease live broadcasts of the demonstrations and effectively banning them from doing so. Later that same day, this directive was suspended by the High Court sitting in Milimani on until 24 October 2025 when a case, brought by civil society actors to determine the directive’s legality, will be heard. In its ruling, the Court found that the directive to be potentially unconstitutional.
The arrests and arbitrary detention of Mr. Mark Amiani, Mr. Mulingwa Nzau, Mr. Francis Mutunge Mwangi and Mr. Boniface Mwangi
On 27 June 2025, two days after the protests, Mr. Mark Amiani, Mr. Mulingwa Nzau, and Mr. Francis Mutunge Mwangi were intercepted on their way to work in Mombasa by police officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). The three human rights defenders were then reportedly arrested and brought to Muthaiga Police Station where they were detained without having been informed of any formal charges against them.
On 30 June 2025, the three human rights defenders appeared in Court where they were charged with incitement of violence, damage to property, and theft, in connection with violence and destruction of property which took place alongside the nationwide protests on 25 June 2025. The DCI further argued that the human rights defenders were fleeing Nairobi when they were intercepted. The prosecution requested that they be detained for an additional twenty-one days to ‘facilitate investigations’ but reportedly failed to present the Court with any credible evidence linking them to the allegations.
On 2 July 2025, the three human rights defenders were released on bail. They are required to report to the investigating officer at Muthaiga police station twice per week to facilitate ongoing investigations.
A hearing was scheduled for 23 July 2025 to determine whether the prosecution’s request for the human rights defenders to be detained for a further 21 days should be granted but this was delayed until 21 August 2025 because the DCI had reportedly not completed their forensic investigations.
On 19 July 2025, human rights defender Mr. Boniface Mwangi was also arrested at his home in connection with the protests on 25 June 2025. During the arrest, the human rights defender’s home was raided, and the police seized two mobile phones, a laptop, several notebooks, hard drives, two computers, two unused tear gas canisters and a blank firearm cartridge.
On 21 June 2025, Mr. Mwangi was brought before the Kahawa Law Courts by the DCI and charged with unlawful possession of ammunition. On the same date, he was released on bail. He is currently awaiting trial. His next hearing is scheduled to take place on 21 August 2025.
Prior to his detention, Mr. Mwangi has been arrested multiple times in Kenya. Additionally, he was subjected to an enforced disappearance reportedly by Tanzanian security forces between 19 and 22 May 2025, when he was found dumped in the Kenyan town of Ukunda.
The deportation of human rights defender Mr. Martin Mavenjina
On 5 July 2025, Ugandan citizen Mr. Mavenjina was returning from South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya, where he holds valid legal status to work and reside with his partner and two children who are all Kenyan citizens. Upon arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, the human rights defender was allowed to pass through customs where his passport was stamped. Directly after, however, immigration officers reversed this decision, and the human rights defender was escorted to an immigration office. At the immigration office, Mr. Mavenjina’s passport was confiscated, and he was led to a holding facility where he was temporarily detained until, after approximately thirty minutes, an immigration officer and five plain-clothes officers believed to be from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) escorted him to the Kenya Airways desk. Here, a ticket was issued for him to Kampala, Uganda, his passport was marked with an exit stamp, and his phone was temporarily confiscated. At no point was he informed of the legal basis or reason for his deportation, nor was he given access to a legal representative.
Attacks against the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
The following day, on 6 July 2025, the KHRC and its civil society partners were hosting a press conference at their premises for a group of mothers, widows, and woman human rights defenders seeking an end to arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Kenya. During the event, at approximately 1.30 p.m., unidentified armed individuals allegedly entered the offices, violently disrupting the press conference, destroying and stealing the equipment of several journalists, and accusing the women of ‘organising protests.’ The attacks were reported to the police but according to the information received, no investigation has been initiated.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express serious concern at the arrest and detention of human rights defenders Mr. Mark Amiani, Mr. Mulingwa Nzau and Mr. Francis Mutunge Mwangi. We are particularly concerned about the apparent lack of due process employed in the arrests and the fact that the human rights defenders were held in pre-trial detention for three days before their trial and a further two days before they were released on bail. We are also seriously concerned about the arrest and detention of human rights defender Mr. Boniface Mwangi, and his judicial prosecution on alleged trumped-up charges. If confirmed, the alleged facts would appear to contravene, among other norms, with articles 9, 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), acceded to by Kenya on 1 May 1972, which guarantee the rights not to be arbitrarily deprived of liberty, the right to a fair trial, as well as the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and freedom association.
We are further concerned by the deportation of human rights defender Mr. Martin Mavenjina who holds valid legal status to work and reside in Kenya with his partner and two children, all three of whom are Kenyan citizens. It is particularly worrying that Mr. Mavenjina was temporarily detained and then deported shortly after without being informed of the legal basis or reason for his deportation and without access to a legal representative. We express our concern at what appears to be an emerging pattern of criminalization and harassment of human rights defenders in Kenya in response to their legitimate and important human rights activities which we fear will create a hostile environment, generate fear, and prevent them from carrying out this work.
Equally concerning are the allegations of armed individuals violently disrupting the press conference hosted by KHRC and civil society partners at their offices, as well as attempts to introduce a directive preventing media outlets from broadcasting live at anti-government protests held on 25 June 2025. Such attempts to silence journalists and media outlets constitute blatant violations of article 19 of the ICCPR which refers to the right to hold opinions without interference, and the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, through any medium they wish. The allegations above appear to be in direct breach of the freedom of the press and the right to access information. Any restriction on the right to freedom of expression must be compatible with the requirements set out in article 19(3) ICCPR and must be construed narrowly so as never to impair the essence of the right to freedom of opinion and expression itself. The restrictions allegedly imposed do not appear to meet these requirements established under international human rights law. States must refrain from unduly interfering with the right to freedom of expression to enable media to fulfil their role and watchdog function in a democratic society.[1] Furthermore, States must respect and support the work of NHRIs, like the KHRC, and protect them from attacks in relation to the exercise of their role.
We are further concerned by the alleged highly disproportionate use of force against those present at the protests held on 25 June 2025 which reportedly led to the deaths of sixteen individuals and the injury of hundreds more. If confirmed, this would violate articles 21 and 22 of the ICCPR which guarantee the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Similarly to restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, any restriction on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, which includes peaceful protests, can be subjected to restrictions only as narrowly defined by the ICCPR. Further, there must be a ‘pressing social need’ for the interference in the enjoyment of these rights (A/HCR/20/27), and States have an obligation to ensure that any restrictive measures fall within the limit of what is acceptable in a “democratic society”.
[1] https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/expression/activities/2023-JD-Media-Freedom-and-Democracy.pdf
