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A prominent Kenyan human rights activist has been freed on bail after he was charged with illegal possession of ammunition over his alleged role in deadly antigovernment protests in June.
Boniface Mwangi was charged by the police on Monday, two days after he was arrested and accused of possessing unused tear gas canisters, a “7.62mm blank round”, two mobile phones, a laptop and notebooks.
The courtroom was packed with hundreds of activists, some wearing Kenyan flags. “They have no evidence,” Mwangi told reporters, describing his prosecution as “a big shame.”
His lawyer told Reuters news agency he was grateful to the court for agreeing to release Mwangi on bail.
Kenya has been facing mass antigovernment protests across the country since last year – first against tax increases in a finance bill and later to demand the resignation of President William Ruto.
Since the protests broke out, police have been accused of human rights abuses, including allegations of government critics and activists being abducted and tortured.
His arrest triggered a wave of condemnation online with the hashtag #FreeBonifaceMwangi going viral and rights groups condemning it.
The search warrant police used to raid Mwangi's home, which an ally shared with journalists, accused the campaigner of having paid “goons” to stoke unrest at last month's protests.
However, 37 rights organizations and dozens of activists said they have not yet managed to prove that a judge had issued that warrant.
Mwangi’s arrest on “unjustified terrorism allegations” represents an abuse of the justice system to crush the opposition, the organizations said in a joint statement.
“What began as targeted persecution of young protesters demanding accountability has metastasized into a full-scale assault on Kenya’s democracy,” the groups said.
In June last year, Al Jazeera’s digital documentary strand Close Up profiled Mwangi during a ferocious police crackdown. He then said his nickname online was the “People's Watchman” because he was striving to obtain justice for the families of protesters killed by police.
