Protests happen virtually a yr after a number of killed and seized by Kenyan police in finance invoice protests.
Protesters took to the streets of Kenya’s capital Nairobi to specific their fury over the demise of a blogger arrested by police final week, because the nation’s police watchdog reported that 20 individuals had died in custody during the last 4 months.
Police used tear fuel to disperse crowds gathered near the capital’s parliamentary constructing on Thursday to protest in opposition to the demise of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old blogger arrested within the western city of Homa Bay final week for criticising the nation’s deputy police chief Eliud Lagat.
Police had initially stated Ojwang died “after hitting his head in opposition to a cell wall”, however pathologist Bernard Midia, a part of a crew that performed an post-mortem, stated the injuries – together with a head damage, neck compression and comfortable tissue injury – pointed to assault as the reason for demise.
On Wednesday, President William Ruto admitted Ojwang had died “by the hands of the police”, reversing earlier official accounts of his demise, saying in an announcement that it was “heartbreaking and unacceptable”.
Kenyan media shops reported on Thursday {that a} police constable had been arrested over Ojwang’s demise.
Reporting from the protests in Nairobi, Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb stated that Ojwang, who wrote about political and social points, had posted on-line about Lagat’s alleged function in a “bribery scandal”, through which the deputy police chief had already been implicated by a newspaper investigation.
“It’s angered those who he was detained for that, after which days later, lifeless in a police station,” stated Webb, who added that folks had been calling for Lagat to be held to account, and “persisting in throwing stones on the police despite one volley of tear fuel after the subsequent being fired at them”.
Finance invoice protests: one yr on
The case has shone a lightweight on the nation’s safety companies, who’ve been accused of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances for years.
On Thursday, Impartial Policing Oversight Authority chairperson Issak Hassan instructed lawmakers that there had been “20 deaths in police custody within the final 4 months”.
The authorities are actually conducting an official investigation into Ojwang’s demise.
On Wednesday, Inspector Common Douglas Kanja apologised for police having beforehand implied that Ojwang died by suicide, telling a Senate listening to: “He didn’t hit his head in opposition to the wall.”
Ojwang’s demise comes virtually a yr after a number of activists and protesters had been killed and brought by police throughout finance bill protests – many are nonetheless lacking.
The rallies led to requires the removing of Ruto, who was criticised for the crackdown.
Amnesty Worldwide stated Ojwang’s demise in custody on Saturday “have to be urgently, totally and independently investigated”.
