Activist Mutemi wa Kiama Arrested After Police Raid His Home [VIDEO]

File image of activist Mutemi wa Kiama
File image of activist Mutemi wa Kiama
Twitter

Prominent activist Mutemi wa Kiama was arrested on Tuesday, June 9 after police stormed his home at around 10 pm demanding to see him.

The officers arrived at Kiama's building and refused to identify themselves as they stood outside his door, demanding him to open it.

Kiama began a Facebook live-stream as he repeatedly asked the officers to show him a warrant for his arrest, asking them to slip it under the door.

The live-stream was eventually cut off raising questions on Kiama's whereabouts before it emerged that he had been arrested, with the activist accusing the police of breaking into his home.

Activists including Boniface Mwangi at Capitol Hill Police Station on June 10, 2020
Activists including Boniface Mwangi at Capitol Hill Police Station on June 10, 2020
Twitter

The activist was taken to Capitol Hill Police Station in Upper Hill, Nairobi where he was accused of digital pirating of a book.

Other actors in the activism community including Boniface Mwangi made their way to Capitol Hill Police Station in a show of solidarity with Kiama.

Kiama told them that he was arrested by 4 officers from the Serious Crimes Unit and 3 others from Karen Police Station.

He further claimed that the officers took two laptops and a phone, brutalized him and taunted him asking if he could breathe.

Some of his fellow activists, however, believe that he was arrested to intimidate and silence him from sharing controversial, stirring posts on his social media platforms.

Kiama is associated with the citizen lobby outfit Wanjiku Revolt which advocates for a radical overhaul of tainted leaders and a restructuring of the system to end vices such as corruption.

He is also a staunch critic of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Kenyatta family which he has accused of engagement in plunder and mismanagement of public resources.

One of his recent posts which caused a furor in some quarters saw him allude to the move by protesters in Bristol, England to pull down the statue of a 17th Century Slave Trader, posting it alongside the statue of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).

A campaign for his release from police custody was initiated on social media dubbed '#FreeKiama' as fellow activists and Kenyans demanded to know why he was arrested.

Watch Kiama's stream below:

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