Three journalists have been arrested for allegedly defaming Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala by circulating photoshoped nude photos at the instigation of Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa.
Addressing journalists at Parliament Buildings, Malala claimed Echesa used the trio – David Ndolo, Stafford Ondego and Alex Njue to create and circulate the photos, which depict him in a compromising situation with an unidentified woman as part of a supremacy war.
“Yesterday in some social media network there was demeaning photos of the CS in an unknown lodging with a woman in compromising situations. When those went viral Rashid looked for journalists whom he sent the photos and told them to Photoshop and replace them with me and release them online. Because I have acumen on intelligence I was able to round up those journalists with the help of police,” he said.
“ Recently he was on a radio talk show back at home and said a lot of things to defame me),” he added.
According to the senator, during their arrest, the journalists’ phones and a laptop that was used to create the image were confiscated and there was evidence of their communication with Echesa.
The CS’s personal driver is said to have sent Ksh 5,000 to the journalists. Circulating offensive photos is a crime under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, which was enacted in May this year.
“Seconds after Ndolo sent the Photoshopped images to the CS, he forwarded to me the same. So I am a witness too in this case. We confiscated their phones and laptops,” Malala told journalists.
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He added that his had instructed his lawyer, Siaya Senator James Orengo and engaged an expert to help with evidence gathering that would eventually be used during prosecution.
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