Amnesty piles fresh pressure on govt over recent wave of abductions

Amnesty International Kenya, a human rights lobby, on Tuesday issued demands to the government over the release of the abducted youths who had been missing for weeks.

Amnesty International Kenya Director Irũngũ Houghton said their calls to have all the abductees released will not stop until Steve Mbisi, one of the abductees whose location isn't still known is also released.

"Amnesty International Kenya welcomes the release of Kibet Bull, Billy Mwangi, Steve Muteti, Ronny Kiplangat, and Bernard Kavuli after 2-3 weeks of detention. We continue to treat their incommunicado detention as enforced disappearances and call for the release of the sixth missing person Steve Mbisi," said Irũngũ.

He told The Eastleigh Voice that Kenyan authorities must hold those responsible accountable, stop all abductions, and invite the United Nations to also investigate. "Enforced disappearances are unlawful and unjust internationally. They must not be trivialised or normalized on any part of Kenyan soil."

Amnesty International Kenya and other human rights lobby groups have for the past few months intensified their calls to have President William Ruto's administration stop abduction and enforced disappearances of critics.

Released

Irũngũ's call came a day after five young Kenyan men - including a popular cartoonist - who went missing just before the Christmas holidays were found alive.

The country has been gripped by a wave of disappearances, with the state-funded rights group, Kenya National Human Rights Commission saying that over 80 people have been abducted in the last six months.

The abductions generally target government critics and are widely believed to be the work of security agents, although the authorities have not admitted responsibility.

They began in June last year during nationwide anti-tax protests but increased in December when AI-generated photos of the president were widely shared.

The youth-led protests forced President William Ruto to withdraw a series of planned tax rises and shook his government, leaving his authority badly undermined.

Kibet Bull, known for his silhouette cartoon memes critical of the president, announced his release on Monday afternoon on X to much fanfare.

He told his 105,000 followers that he had been dropped off in the town of Luanda, nearly 370 km (229 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, where he was last seen in December.

The others released on Monday include 24-year-old student Billy Mwangi in Embu, in the central Mount Kenya region.

Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji claimed that Mwangi "was whipped and beaten while in a dark room. He is traumatised."

Mwangi's father said his son was not able to discuss what he had gone through adding that he had been taken to hospital.

"He came home around eight in the morning. He walked by himself - his mother and I saw him. We thank everyone who has prayed and supported him," he told the Daily Nation news site. Last week, Mwangi's father broke down in court as he pleaded for his son to be released.