By Human Rights Watch released a damning report Tuesday accusing Kenyan security forces of systematically abducting, torturing, and killing suspected leaders of anti-government protests that swept the country between June and August.
The investigation revealed that security officers allegedly detained victims in clandestine facilities, including forests and abandoned buildings, while denying them access to legal representation and family members.
In one case highlighting the human toll, Mary Muthoni Mwangi from rural Kirinyaga in central Kenya described the loss of her 20-year-old son, Kennedy Njeru. He participated in the June 25 demonstrations when protesters stormed parliament following the passage of a controversial tax increase bill. After a four-day search, Mwangi found her son’s body in the city mortuary. A postmortem examination revealed he had been shot in the head.
“Whoever the initial abductors were, the police were involved because people were taken to police stations and many times the torture happened while people were in police custody,” said Mausi Segun, head of HRW’s Africa division. Human rights organizations have documented 61 deaths nationwide during the weeks of unrest.
The HRW investigation, based on interviews with 75 people including victims, families, journalists, parliament staff, and police officers, uncovered a pattern of security agents targeting protesters. Witnesses reported that officers operated in plain clothes, masked their faces, and used unmarked vehicles, making it difficult for families and rights groups to trace victims.
“Many of the bodies of those who have been abducted have showed up sometimes on the streets, sometimes in quarries, unmarked places where they have been dumped,” Segun said. “Many of those bodies have shown signs of torture and dismemberment of body parts, showing what they went through at the hands of their captors.”
Kenyan security forces have denied involvement in the abductions and killings. President William Ruto, speaking at a town hall meeting in Kisumu in late August, claimed no knowledge of the abductions and urged families to submit names to the government for investigation.
The crisis reached a new flash point on September 24 when dozens of activists and victims’ family members, including Mwangi, attempted to deliver a list of the missing and dead to the president’s office. Security forces dispersed them with tear gas.
Human Rights Watch emphasized that the cases of abductions, disappearances, and killings are well-documented and called for government accountability. President Ruto ultimately declined to sign the tax increase that sparked the protests into law.
