Seven individuals, including five human rights defenders and two journalists, were arrested in Marereni near Malindi after an altercation with police officers manning a roadblock.
According to Hussein Khalid, Executive Director of Vocal Africa, the seven individuals were demanding implementation of a court order that stated all police officers in public spaces must wear uniforms and remove their face coverings.
He also identified the seven individuals as Khelef Khalifa, Mathias Shipeta, Salma Hemed, Francis Auma, Atrash Mohammed, Rob Liban of Citizen TV, and Brian, a reporter with the Star newspaper.
They were taken to Malindi Police Station following a confrontation with officers deployed at the Marereni roadblock.
Malindi Injustice
In a video seen by The Kenya Times, Salma Hemed explained that the police had stopped them in Marereni as they were coming from Momboni for a routine check.
But things took a quick turn when the special unit asked them to identify themselves.
Hemed further explains that they were asked to say who sent them to the area and were held up at the roadblock for over an hour as the altercation ensued.
The police then reportedly confiscated their phones, without explaining why they were stopped initially. Fearing they were running out of time to reach their destination, Khalifa and his companions asked for a way forward.
The police were allegedly rigid, and when the seven asked if they were under arrest, the police denied and told them to wait for their senior officers to arrive at the scene.
Hemed claims they had asked the police to take them to the police station, a decision the police also refused.
She also added that at the time of the recording, they were on their way after receiving instructions from the senior officers who arrived much later to report to Malindi Police Station immediately.
Denied Rights
In April 2025, the High Court of Kenya issued a landmark decision requiring all police officers deployed to maintain order in public spaces to wear official uniforms and not cover their faces.
The judgment was aimed at improving accountability and transparency in policing, following complaints by the public and a petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) that masked officers were involved in excessive force and unlawful actions during public operations.
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Justice Bahati Mwamuye, who presided over the case, insisted that concealing identity undermines public trust and violates constitutional principles of openness and accountability, as seen in Rex Masai’s case, where the suspect of his killing was a police officer dressed in civilian clothes.
The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) has spoken out regarding the arrests.
KUJ has condemned the detention of journalists as an attack on press freedom and called for their immediate release.
KUJ Secretary-General Erick Oduor stated that journalists must be allowed to report without intimidation or unlawful detention, framing the arrests as a violation of constitutional guarantees for media independence and freedom of expression.
Human rights defenders and media groups are planning demonstrations in Malindi and Nairobi to demand the release of the detainees and full implementation of the court order.
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Harassment of Kenyan journalists persists through arrests, intimidation, online abuse, and legal threats.
Despite constitutional protections, enforcement remains weak, raising concerns for press freedom and democracy.
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