Kenyan abductions cause fears from returning to a dark past

The reported disappearance of over 80 government critics in the last six months has caused a huge public turn in Kenya.

A judge warned that he would close senior security officials to the court on Monday if they were unable to appear for the third time to report a recent series of alleged abductions.

The case is related to the disappearance documented by the Kenya National Committee on Human Rights, as protests against the proposed tax increases began last country last June.

At least 24 are said to be missing.

Police and the government refuse abduction and illegal detention of protesters, but the country has a history of state -sponsored abductions, and some Kenyans fear that they are returning to this dark past.

Police Inspector Douglas Kanja and Directorate of Criminal Investigations Director Mohammed Amin were ordered to present seven influential in social media, which disappeared in December.

Five suddenly reappeared in early January in various places across the country.

Kanja’s attorneys asked the court to record their statements more time and file a report.

Billy Muang is one of five. The 24-year-old was rejected by his alleged abductors 75 km (46 miles) from his hometown in Embu, in Central Kenya, in an obvious act of intimidation.

Billy’s father, Gerald Muvenx Karicha, told the BBC that his son was injured.

“The boy didn’t share much,” he said. “All I can say is that when he came, he was not his usual self. He looked in shock.”

Billy, a college student who was a vocal critic of the government in social media, He disappeared on December 21, 2024 while at an Emba Barber shop.

According to witnesses, hooded men arrived at a Toyota player and a dual -cabin pickup truck, they built it into one of the vehicles and withdrew.

Within hours, his family fears began to unfold.

“Most weekends, we are watching football together. His club is Chelsea; mine is Arsenal,” Gerald said.

He called Billy to discuss a football match in the evening of his disappearance, just to find that his son’s phone was off.

Later, the owner of the barber shop informs him of the abduction, triggering a frantic demand.

Billy’s mother collapsed when he heard the news and the subsequent weeks, agonized for the family.

As soon as he was found, he was taken to a hospital for a routine check. His family tells him that he is still recovering from the trauma, but his release brought them some measure of relief.

Like many who reappeared after alleged abductions, Billy said a little about his ordeal, perhaps out of fear.

Jamil and Aslam Longton were also silent after being released in September for 32 days in captivity.

The brothers were warned, Jamil says they would be killed if they went to the media.

Three months later, a government officer publicly cited his case as legal arrest.

The siblings accepted this as a confirmation that a government agency was responsible for what they had survived and found the courage to speak.

“Kenya’s constitution is very clear,” Jamil says. “You have to be arrested and taken to court within 24 hours. Ours was 32 days. We have never been given a lawyer to represent us anywhere.

“We were not allowed to see our family or communicate with our family. So it’s not an arrest, it’s a kidnapping.”

The brothers told the BBC that Aslama helped organize protests against tax promotions in the city of Kitengel near the capital, Nairobi, and were warned by security agents to stop his activism.

One day in August, the two were drawn to a car from their home, with a hood and handcuffed and taken to an unknown place where they were kept in small dark cells.

Aslama says he was regularly beaten, and his torturer wanted to find out who finances the protests.

“I was very scared,” he says. “When the door opens, the person will come with a fibrous cable and a metal stick.

“I was scared that he came to beat me or finish me – there were only two options to beat me or kill me.”

Jamil describes their abductors as highly armed, capable of tracking their mobile phones and confident enough to take them in daylight, working with a level of resources and a degree of flexibility, which in many cases report human rights.

But this does not mean that they are official security officials, says government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, denying that the state is behind the abductions.

“Organized security can also be part of organized crime,” he told the BBC.

“This can also be for political reasons … Our political offenders have really turned on this issue. They actually run with him just to settle political results.”

D -n mwaura refused to comment on The case of government minister Justin MuturiOne of the most terrifying accusations of Kenya security agencies.

Muturi says his son was picked up by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and was released only after he had directly appealed to President William Ruto.

“It’s a matter of investigation because it’s its side of history,” said Mwaura. “But what is the counter-history of the National Intelligence Service?

“I would like to say categorically that the President of the Republic of Kenya, who is the head of the government, has not sanctioned any forms of abduction because he is a person who believes in the rule of law.”

In fact, Ruto publicly promised to stop the abductions, forced to respond to public outrage and concern from Western allies.

Many have been difficult that obviously the systematic disappearance of anti-government activists appeared in this way, recalling similar methods under the authoritarian leadership of Daniel Arap in my 1980s and 1990s.

Gitobu Imanyara, a journalist and activist who campaign for a multi-party policy in the early 1990s, was arrested and beaten by the MOI regime. He has no doubt that he now sees Moi Playbook in action.

But, he says, times have changed. Constitutional changes establish more mechanisms of accountability and “there is a larger segment than the Kenyan society that will not be intimidated.”

“The democratic space has expanded so much that the government cannot wish democratic voices of disagreement,” he told the BBC.

Plus with social media, “The word is spread almost instantly,” he said.

“We cannot be censored the way we were censored in those days when we could only use stationary.”

The disappearance reports have reduced in recent weeks.

But despite the announcement of police investigations, no one is accused, let alone convicted that he had committed them.

Several advocacy groups filed a petition to the Prosecutor General with a request to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

As for the families of those who are still missing, the nightmare continues.

“We are so depressed, so devastated,” says Stacey Mutua, Steve Mbi’s sister, one of the seven who disappeared in December.

“We hope they will release him.