Bloggers Gaitho, Alinur charged with publishing false information, freed on Sh30,000 cash bail

Blogger Francis Gaitho who posted on his X account that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had published a picture of a graduate of a certain university claiming he is a suspect linked to murders of women dumped at a quarry in Embakasi, is facing charges of publishing false information.

Gaitho was charged with false publication contrary to section 22 (1) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act of 2018 where he is accused of intentionally publishing that DCI had released the picture of the wrong person.

On Monday, July 15, the blogger published the name and picture of the person he claimed his picture was being used by the DCI.

DCI had shared with the public the suspected killer Collins Khalisia and shared his photo but Gaitho in the post, claimed that he had done cross-referencing and had established that no one exists as such (Khalisia) in public records.

The suspect posted the name and the picture of the person who he claimed was pictured by the DCI as the suspected killer and accused some publications of being among government propagandists.

But the person turned up at the DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road to clear himself and put the record straight.

He claimed that the publisher and some bloggers were out to pacify angered masses who wanted to push President William Ruto out of office.

Alinur Mohamed Bure in the dock at the Milimani Law Courts. (Photo: Joseph Ndunda)

The blogger had claimed that the bodies being retrieved at the dumpsite are those of protesters allegedly killed in Githurai in Nairobi and Rongai in Kajiando County last month.

Gaitho is also charged with cyber harassment in contravention of section 27 (1) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act where he is accused of publishing the name of the person he said DCI was falsely using.

Also charged with false publication is blogger Alinur Mohamed Bulle. Alinur is accused of publishing false information about President Ruto while showing Statehouse spokesman Hussein Mohamed as the author, on July 15, with the intent that the data will be acted upon as authentic.

They both denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki of Milimani Law Courts. They were released on Sh30,000 cash bail each. Their cases will be mentioned on August 1.