ICJ Kenya has lashed out towards the growing political suppression and systemic violations of human rights in Kenya.
In a press release from the Pangani police station in Nairobi, the defenders criticized the troubling sample of arbitrary arrests, trumped-up fees, and using the justice system to focus on peaceable protesters, activists, and youth.
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Boniface Mwangi Arrest
Specifically, they cite the case of activist Boniface Mwangi, who was arrested after submitting a case towards authorities actions associated to compelled disappearances and human rights abuses.
“Activist Boniface Mwangi was arrested on Saturday, July 19, 2025, a day after submitting a landmark case earlier than the East African Court of Justice, in search of accountability from the governments of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania for his enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, inhumane remedy and indignity together with bodily and sexual violence two months in the past,” the assertion learn.
“The raid at his dwelling and the next arrest had been undertaken with none proof of mandatory courtroom orders and no ensures of his rights as an accused individual,” they added.
ICJ condemned the Kenyan authorities’s growing authoritarianism, the weaponization of the justice system, and the criminalization of dissent.
ICJ Demands
ICJ Kenya has demanded a cease to politically motivated prosecutions by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
The physique additionally referred to as for the defence of judicial independence by the Kenyan Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
ICJ calls for the tip of the criminalization of human rights defenders and activists, in addition to transparency and accountability in authorized actions and prosecutions.
“The systematic erosion of Kenya’s judiciary via brazen constitutional violations threatens to extinguish a long time of hard-won democratic progress that has impressed liberation actions throughout our continent,” the assertion learn.
“What occurs in Kenya reverberates all through Africa, as when one democracy falls, all of us grow to be weak.”
Poor present by Ruto
The human rights defenders have raised considerations about Ruto’s authorities utilizing state energy to undermine basic freedoms.
This contains the focusing on of human rights defenders, activists, and youth who dare to protest or communicate out.
ICJ has expressed alarm at how peaceable protests, that are constitutionally protected, have been criminalized, with protestors going through critical fees corresponding to terrorism or arson, with none legitimate proof.
Article 6 of the ICCPR ensures the best to life, that means nobody shall be arbitrarily disadvantaged of their life.
A shoot order focusing on civilians would violate this basic proper, particularly if deadly power is used towards non-threatening people.
If a shoot-to-kill order is carried out below the federal government of President Ruto as per the earlier order to “shoot-to-maim”, ICJ warns it will result in illegal killings and widespread violence towards civilians.
The state can be violating worldwide human rights obligations, notably the best to life, as enshrined within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the ICCPR.
Kenya may face worldwide authorized scrutiny from our bodies just like the United Nations Human Rights Council, the ICC, and even via regional our bodies just like the African Union if these actions are deemed illegal or half of a bigger marketing campaign of repression.
Countries or worldwide organizations would possibly impose sanctions or different measures to carry Kenya accountable for violations associated to the shoot order, notably whether it is proven to violate worldwide legal guidelines governing state conduct towards civilians.
