Police have filed a motion in court seeking permission to detain human rights activist Boniface Mwangi for 21 days.
According to court documents, the police explained that it wanted 21 days to investigate the human rights activist for various crimes.
Mwangi is being accused of false publication contrary to Sections 22(1) of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crime Act.
The human rights activist is also accused of holding unlawful assembly and creating disturbance.
"Application is brought under the cited provisions of the law and is premised on the ground that on 25th July 2024 around 1130hrs or thereabout at Nairobi Central Business District, along Koinange Street the respondents with others caused a breach of peace and inconvenienced other road users by blocking the road by placing one white coffin and seven white crosses with names inscribed on them.
"That, the respondents during the blocking of the said road, were distributing T-shirts and placards labelled with incitement words. That, the respondents through various social media platforms had posted allegations that the government was out to kill its citizens which words were deemed and construed that the government was perpetrating extrajudicial killings; posts which incited members of the public, causing a breach of peace," read the documents in part.
Therefore, it noted that it would be prudent to give police adequate time to gather enough evidence against Mwangi and his colleagues.
Police added that their phones had already been confiscated and were undergoing forensic analysis to establish the financers.
"Investigations are ongoing and there is a need to establish where the white coffin and the white crosses were sourced from as well as establish their financier(s).
"It is in light of the foregoing that I pray this Honourable Court to issue custodial orders authorising the holding of the respondents in the applicant's custody for twenty-one (21) days to enable the applicant to conclude its investigations," read the documents in part.
Police added that other charges would be preferred against the human rights activist upon completion of the investigations.
Meanwhile, the government has been called upon to respect the space of civil society and the youth.
This was revealed through a phone call between President William Ruto and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"The Secretary underscored the importance of freedoms of assembly and expression as enshrined in Kenya’s constitution, emphasised the vital role played by youth and civil society organizations in healthy democracies, and urged respect for their contributions to Kenya’s development," read a statement by the Office of the Secretary of State.
