Kenyan government critics mysteriously disappeared. They came back silenced

By Larry Madowo, CNN

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) — Gideon Kibet had just stepped off a bus on Christmas Eve when four masked men surrounded him and forced him into a car. The 24-year-old agriculture student says the men tore his shirt, used it to blindfold him and taunted him.

Kibet is one of dozens of prominent anti-government critics to have gone missing since a youth-led protest movement erupted in June against a controversial finance bill.

He was taken by the men after posting cartoons critical of Kenyan President William Ruto and his government to social media in December.

“Bull,” as Kibet is known online, was released with four others Monday, just 10 days after Ruto promised to stop abductions of government critics.

Ruto, government officials and police had maintained for months that there had been no abductions, calling them “fake news,” despite at least 82 government critics having gone missing since summer, according to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission.

Even when acknowledging the abductions last month, Ruto did not take responsibility for the abductions of all those missing; he also urged parents to “take care” of their children.

The returned activists say that they still don’t know who held them, or where. But they all have said that they will no longer criticize the government on social media or have completely gone silent.

“They have been intimidated and threatened into silence. They said so openly that they will tone down and won’t be as critical as before,” activist Hussein Khalid told CNN, underlining many human rights defenders’ concerns: that the government has succeeded in muzzling critical voices.

Kenyan authorities have maintained that they are not behind the abductions, and the country’s police chief has said none of the disappeared was held in police stations.

But Khalid, like many others, say all signs show otherwise.

“Of course it’s the government, there’s no shred of doubt about that. You can’t abduct people in broad daylight with CCTV cameras. If it quacks like a duck, it is a duck,” Khalid said.

All five people who were recently released were shaken by their experiences.

CNN spoke with two of the young men who had been recently released, and with the family of another activist, while another activist spoke with local media, detailing the ordeal.

All of the men said that they were shaken by their experiences. They described being held in solitary rooms, sometimes in darkness and with infrequent showers. Some say they were questioned about their online activities. All were returned without their phones.

Kibet told CNN that his abductors asked him repeatedly “if I knew why I had been arrested.” He told his abductors that he believes he was taken because of his online activism.

“One of my abductors told me: ‘so you’ve decided to be their Jesus, to sacrifice yourself for others?’” Kibet said.

Organized abductions

Kibet, like many young Kenyans, was once a fervent Ruto supporter. But he turned into a sharp online critic as the euphoria that propelled Ruto to power turned into disappointment with his government over corruption, high unemployment, and an anemic economy.

Kibet’s younger brother Ronny Kiplangat – a teacher who hardly ever used social media – also went missing a few days before Kibet and was similarly released this week.

The brothers believe that Kiplangat was abducted as a way to lure Kibet – who was studying outside the capital – to Nairobi.

“It could be that they were trying to find my brother. I can’t really say they had a main reason for abducting me,” Kiplangat said.

Kiplangat says he doesn’t know where he was detained as he was also blindfolded on his way in and out by a group of men. But upon his return this week, Kiplangat was dropped off before dawn in Machakos, nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from where he had been abducted, he said.

Human rights groups say the abductions should be called enforced disappearances, and that they violate Kenyan and international law.

Amnesty International Kenya’s executive director, Irungu Houghton, told CNN that the disappearances were well-calculated and organized.

“It’s not the kind of thing that two or three rogue police officers could pull together, because they are operating essentially, in many cases, with weapons,” Houghton said.

“They have vehicles that do not seem to have the correct license plates – that’s only possible if you have either the acquiescence of the state, which is the state looking the other way, or you have the support of the state, or the state is instructing you to carry out these abductions,” he said.

Kenya’s National Police Service said in a statement this week that it was committed to “ensuring that these matters are thoroughly investigated to their logical conclusions” after criticism that its officers had made no attempt to probe the disappearances.

Many of those abducted report being picked up by hooded men with guns and handcuffs.

At a protest by Kenyan women in Nairobi on Monday, the same day that the five people were released, a police pickup truck drove around the city with men in balaclavas carrying guns and tear gas canisters, despite an August court order requiring police officers to be in uniform and have a nametag or service number while on duty.

It’s one of many reasons why human rights groups, activists, some politicians, and regular Kenyans say the abductions have the government’s stamp of approval.

Trauma and fear

Meanwhile, one of the recently returned men is struggling to come to terms with the ordeal, with his family telling CNN that he is severely traumatized.

Peter Muteti Njeru, 22, was dragged into a car on December 21 while he was buying breakfast outside his apartment in Uthiru, a suburb near Nairobi, CCTV footage shows.

Prior to his abduction, Muteti had posted an AI-generated image of Ruto in a casket to social media, an image some found offensive.

Muteti’s cousin Ansity Kendi Christine told CNN that handcuff marks and cuts on Njeru’s arms indicate violence in detention. She said that Muteti was trying to protect himself during beatings while he was still handcuffed.

Since his return, Muteti has been in “panic mode, confused and not sleeping well,” Kendi said, noting that he has been staying mostly inside since his return.

“He’s opening up bit by bit, but we’ve got a long way to go. He’s a far cry from the 22-year-old who works in an office, has a girlfriend, makes his own meals and babysits my kids,” she said.

Muteti’s family fears that he was punished more severely than other abductees to make an example out of him.

He has not returned to social media and told his family that he was given a serious warning by his captors against speaking to the media, she added.

Billy Mwangi, 24, is also keeping a low profile since his release.

Mwangi disappeared from his barbershop’s doorstep the day after a now suspended X account belonging to him posted a doctored photo of Ruto in a casket, appearing to resurrect. After 15 days of captivity, he returned to his parents in eastern Embu this week.

Speaking to reporters, he said that he wasn’t ready to talk about the disappearance “because I’m still not fine mentally.”

Flanked by his parents, who held him close, he said: “I thank God I’m alive.”

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