Chief Justice Emeritus Willy Mutunga’s rhetorical question “Are African governments in the business of selling Turkish citizens to the dictatorship in Türkiye?” deserves closer attention. With the recent arrests of Mustafa Güngör in Kenya and Emre Çınar in Mozambique, a new wave of transnational repression appears to be rising on African soil.
Welcome to this special issue of the Amnesty Kenya Gazette, where we reflect on a year marked by courage and cruelty, resistance and resilience. From the streets and courtrooms of Kenya to regional and global arenas, 2025 reminded us that rights are never freely given; they are claimed, defended, and protected through collective action. In the face of abductions, police brutality, arbitrary arrests, shrinking civic space, and global injustice, Kenyans organised, protested, litigated, created, and stood in solidarity with one another. This issue reflects that journey: the hard truths we confronted, the victories we secured, the lives we lost, and the unwavering resolve that continues to drive the movement forward.
16 days of activism against gender-based violence ended on Wednesday, which was also International Human Rights Day. That horrific “initiation” gang rape in Meru reaffirmed how far we are from a society that keeps all women and girls dignified and safe. Less visible, however, is how sexual violence and trauma that follows affects Kenyan men and boys.
Diana Russell, a pioneer researcher on violence against women, is credited as having popularized the use of the term ‘femicide’ to describe the killing of women because of their gender. She used the term publicly when she testified on the crimes against women during the first International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women held in Belgium in 1976. In a 2022 report, UN Women and UNODC estimated that in 2023, Africa had over 20,000 women killed by their partners. The Initiative for Strategic Litigation (ISLA) is trying to hold states accountable for failure to tackle this crime and is advocating for the inclusion of femicide as a crime within African legal systems.
Today, one of the biggest threats to a child’s wellbeing is hidden in plain sight: how their data is collected, stored, and shared by the institutions meant to protect them.
After months of a court stay, the President appointed a Panel of Experts to compensate victims of state violence during public protests, but the High Court struck it down. Survivors, victims’ families, and all those genuinely pressing for justice and reparations should not lose heart. Justice Edward Muriithi has offered a fair and balanced way forward for all the interests involved.
Distinguished faculty, honored guests, and graduating students. It gives Amnesty International Kenya great pleasure to celebrate your achievement and step towards being professional mediators. As you graduate, I invite you to reflect on mediation as a pathway to accountable, rights-respecting communities.
This is your chance!
Oxfam’s new data shows Kenya is far from the Kenya Kwanza’s 2022 promise of a fair and prosperous nation. The 2025 Inequality Report offers policies for those leaders still committed to that vision
There is a dangerous pattern taking root across East Africa: when confronted with uncomfortable truths, governments are increasingly choosing propaganda, denial, and digital repression over accountability and dialogue. It is the oldest authoritarian reflex: bury your head in the sand, deny citizens’ lived experiences, and drown out dissent with noise. Yet history shows that this strategy never works in the long run, and often makes the eventual fallout far more explosive. Tanzania’s recent response to the shocking CNN investigation showing police fatally shooting protesters and signs of mass graves is a clear example. Rather than engage with the evidence, the Government Spokesperson swiftly dismissed the investigation as “unprofessional and unacceptable,” accusing neighbouring countries of pushing “propaganda” to tarnish Tanzania’s image. This defensiveness is complemented by the suppression of protest footage through a near-total internet blackout and threats to jail anyone sharing post-election violence videos. It was a calculated attempt to control perception rather than address the disturbing reality on the ground. But governments must learn a simple lesson: you can blackout the internet, but you cannot blackout reality.
Digital violence is not new to Kenyan politics, but it has now escalated to the point at which we cannot ignore it anymore, because of its devastating effects on young people, especially human rights defenders.
The release of two investigative reports this week into technology enabled state surveillance and violence against critics of the state reminds us of a disturbing reality. Despite the Kenya authorities’ heavy investment in building an open and prosperous digital economy, digital rights violations persist. Left unchecked, they will continue to puncture the power of our constitutional freedoms and the Data Protection Act (2019).