Human rights activist Maina Kiai was Sunday morning briefly detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in unclear circumstances.
Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri) chairperson Khelef Khalifa, in a statement, said:
“Mr Kiai was detained for almost two hours at the JKIA this morning at 0645 hrs.
“He was prevented from leaving the country. The immigration officer attempted to confiscate his passport without giving reasons.”
Mr Khalifa added that Mr Kiai was able to contact the Immigration Director Gordon Kihalangwa and was later allowed to board the plane to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
“Maina refused to handover the passport, he managed to call the director of immigration, Mr Kihalangwa, and eventually he was allowed to board the plane heading to Europe.
“Mr Kihalangwa pleaded to Maina for a chat upon his return,” he wrote.
Mr Kiai, a board member of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and Executive Director of InformAction.
Mr Khalifa has condemned the government, terming the action as “harassment and intimidation to human rights activists”.
His remarks come hot in the heels of an order by acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i suspending the de-registration of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Africa Centre for Open Governance (Africog).
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The NGOs Coordination Board had on August 14 delisted KHRC on claims of tax evasion, illegal bank accounts and illegal hiring of expatriates.
Additionally, Kiai’s colleague at InformAction, Ms Lucy Hannan, said that the activist was heading to Prague when the incident happened.
“He called a number of diplomats and he has also spoken to other people about it.
“It is really worrying, especially after the attempted crackdown on civil societies.
“And why now yet the presidential petition, which the government was attempting to prevent, has been filled,” Ms Hannan said.
His detention comes just days after Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission commissioner Roselyn Akombe was prevented from boarding her flight to the the US until the US Embassy in Nairobi intervened.
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